Kyrgyzstan's security forces clashed with ethnic Uzbeks in the south of the former Soviet republic today, where up to 2,000 people were killed in a wave of bloodletting earlier this month.
Rights groups said four people were killed and more than 20 wounded when Kyrgyz forces raided an Uzbek village near Osh, which was the centre of the ethnic clashes that broke out on June 10th.
The authorities put the death toll at two, saying law enforcement forces had run into "armed resistance".
Speaking during a visit to nearby Jalalabad, Kyrgyz interim leader Roza Otunbayeva pledged to press ahead with a referendum on a new constitution on Sunday despite security concerns.
"Holding this referendum has become necessary because we must create a legal framework," said Ms Otunbayeva, who came to power after a revolt in April toppled the country's president.
"If we allow any delays, this will threaten us with further instability," added Ms Otunbayeva, who needs the referendum as a stepping stone towards presidential and parliamentary elections.
This month's bloodshed destroyed entire neighbourhoods and sent 400,000 people fleeing for the Uzbek border, where they are living with little food in squalid camps.
The United States and Russia, which both operate military air bases in Kyrgyzstan, are concerned that unrest could spread into other parts of Central Asia, a former Soviet region lying on a major drug-trafficking route out of nearby Afghanistan.
Reuters