Refugees who fled a crackdown by Uzbek troops said on Friday they dared not return home, and the United Nations turned up the volume on its demands for an inquiry into deaths believed to have run into hundreds.
Reuters correspondents who traveled to a village near the epicenter of last week's violence, the town of Andizhan, saw fresh graves in which, local residents said, victims of the clashes between protesters and troops were buried.
President Islam Karimov has denied ordering troops to fire on civilians in Andizhan, but rejected a United Nations call for an international inquiry.
Asked about Karimov's refusal to allow an inquiry, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "As to what consequences there might be, I think Uzbekistan does not want to endure further isolation from the international community."
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