Uzbek confusion

Reports from Uzbekistan continue to roll in with a murkiness that I'm having trouble processing.

Today's NY Times has an article on the events in country. Unfortunately, it doesn't really clarify things.

Refugees initially claimed thousands of deaths from the clashes with military and police, although a mix of activist groups, opposition parties, and human rights monitors have since lowered that number to anywhere between 300 and 750.

The Karimov government is of course downplaying these figures further, and admitted on Tuesday that 169 were struck down. It's now claiming the civilians were killed at the hands of rebels.

Hopefully things will sort themselves out soon. For further background, there's a decent primer on the overall situation in Uzbekistan over at Open Democracy. The ever-dependable Jim Lobe has a piece on the bungled American response, as well.