Krygyz int'l airport reopened

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The international airport near the Krygyz capital of Bishkek has reopened and flights have been resumed on Thursday.

As Xinhua reporters witnessed at the scene, some flights were taking off while others were landing.

The Manas International Airport is the main international airport in Kyrgyzstan, located 25 km north of Bishkek. It is also the site of the Manas air base currently used by the U.S. military to support operations in neighboring Afghanistan.

Opposition protesters who took over the Presidential Palace, also claimed to occupy the airport, according to Russian media. They said on Thursday that there was no disruption of the work at the airport during the nationwide unrest which took at least 68 lives.

Meanwhile, as Xinhua reporters witnessed on the scene on Thursday, the Presidential Palace, located at the center of the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek and once an embodiment of the state power, is in a total mess now.

Hundreds of young people kept going in and out the building, smashing office facilities, and trying to search for something valuable.

In fact, the Presidential Palace had already been looted on the previous night, with broken glasses and broken wood parts scattering all over the ground. Some of the room in the building was also burned.

A few individuals stood in front of the building, keeping telling rioters not to take things away. But no one listened to them.

There were several burned cars on the square in front of the Presidential Palace, and document papers, furniture pieces and sofas scattered around the building.

Snipers have withdrawn from the roof, and an armored vehicle still parked on the square. But it is unclear whether there were any law enforcement officers inside. There was no police officer in sight.

Looking from the square to direction of the Presidential Palace, some of the windows are still fuming black smoke. On the 7th floor where the President's Office is located, there are obvious burn marks.

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