Explosion destroys newspaper archives

Reporters Without Borders said today it was “alarmed by the tense situation” in recent weeks in Kyrgyzstan after an explosion damaged the offices of two newspapers in the the country's second city, Osh, on 30 May. It called on the government to thoroughly investigate the blast and take steps to protect the media if it proved to be a criminal attack. Nearly all the archives of the Russian-language paper Ekho Osha and the Uzbek-language Osh Saodasi were lost in the explosion, which came soon after a woman was seen to enter the building with a bag which she left there. Police have begun an enquiry. Three journalists have been physically attacked in Kyrgyzstan so far this year.