Tens of thousands of Uzbek refugees have fled raging violence in Kyrgyzstan that left 113 dead as the interim government struggled to stem the worst ethnic clashes since the end of the Soviet Union.

Gunbattles between rival groups turned cities into warzones and marauding mobs torched whole villages on a third day of bloodshed in the Central Asian nation. Neighbouring Uzbekistan said up to 80,000 ethnic Uzbeks, mostly women and children, had fled the fighting and were being housed in hastily set up camps along the border.