Uzbek President Islam Karimov said Tuesday his country does not need an international investigation into Friday's violence in the eastern town of Andijan, as it is the internal affair of the country.
 
Uzbekistan is a sovereign country and can conduct an investigation into the Andijan unrest without the involvement of foreign parties, Karimov told a press conference in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan.

The president said no peaceful demonstrators were involved in the unrest, and that all the demonstrators were militants.

The militants attacked the army barracks, seized weapons and ammunition, stormed a prison and freed the inmates, he said. They also seized government offices and killed law enforcement officials.

Karimov accused foreign journalists of slanted coverage of more than 500 killed in the Andijan riots, saying such false reports were misleading.

He also rejected "groundless" criticism from British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who had castigated the Uzbek government for firing on civilians. He said Straw was provided with "false information."

Violence culminated days of protests Friday as thousands of armed protesters plunged Andijan into chaos, releasing prisoners and clashing with security forces.

Uzbekistan's Prosecutor-General Rashid Kadyrov said Tuesday that 169 people had been killed in the violence, of whom 32 were government troops and the others militants.

"Only terrorists were liquidated by government forces," he told a news conference, with Karimov at his side.

A criminal suit was brought against those responsible for the unrest, he said.

However, Nigara Khidoyatova, head of the opposition Free Peasants Party, said 745 people were killed by government troops during the unrest, and that the toll was expected to rise.

Friday's unrest in Uzbekistan was the worst since the former Soviet republic won independence in 1991.

Karimov blamed a branch of the outlawed radical Hizb ut-Tahrir group for the turmoil.

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2005)