An Uzbek opposition leader today said her party had compiled a list of 745 people allegedly killed by government troops in Uzbekistan.
Nigara Khidoyatova, the head of the Free Peasants party, said 542 people had been killed in Andijan and 203 people in Pakhtabad, another city in the Fergana Valley.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov, his government has denied firing on demonstrators
"Soldiers were roaming the streets and shooting at innocent civilians," Ms Khidoyatova said. "Many victims were shot in the back of the head." She said her party's representatives had talked to victims' relatives and attended victims' funerals.
"The count hasn't yet finished, and the death toll will rise," she said. The crackdown in Andijan came after protesters stormed a prison, freed inmates and then seized local government offices on Friday. But many of the demonstrators were citizens complaining about poverty and unemployment.
President Islam Karimov's government has denied firing on demonstrators and blamed the violence on Islamic militants.
In Pakhtabad, almost all the victims were women and children apparently trying to flee violence by escaping into neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, Ms Khidoyatova said.
She added that explosions of anger following the massacre will soon spread to other cities in the volatile, densely populated Fergana Valley and eventually topple Mr Karimov's government.
"It's the beginning of the end of Karimov's regime," she said.
AP