Kyrgyz arrest Bakiyev relative accused in unrest
By Associated Press
Jun 25, 2010 5:23 AM CDT
Ethnic Uzbek gatther to attend a Friday prayer in a mosque in Jalal-Abad southern Kyrgyzstan, Friday, June 25, 2010. Uzbek neighborhoods of southern Kyrgyzstan have been reduced to scorched ruins by rampaging mobs of ethnic Kyrgyz who forced nearly half of the region's roughly 800,000 Uzbeks to flee...   (Associated Press)

Kyrgyz authorities say they have arrested a nephew of deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev whom they accuse of playing a key role in organizing the ethnic rioting that killed hundreds of people.

This month's unrest tore apart the Central Asian nation's south, with Kyrgyz rampaging through Uzbek neighborhoods. As many as 400,000 people fled their homes.

The Interior Ministry said Friday that 27-year-old Sandjar Bakiyev was detained in the mountains of the Jalal-Abad region, despite "serious resistance" from him and his supporters.

Kyrgyzstan's security chief has accused Bakiyev family members of hiring Islamic militants to set off clashes between Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks, who have a history of ethnic tensions.

The deposed president is in exile in Belarus.