The reasons are uncertain: the government says it is taking action against drug traffickers, but independent sources indicate a failed state coup. Dozens killed. A rigid dictatorship controls every aspect of social life, but the people live in severe poverty, and discontent is increasing.

Ashgabat (AsiaNews/Agencies) - There are contradictory and incomplete reports about the urban fighting in Ashgabat on September 12 (a national holiday) and 13, with a number of deaths and part of the city closed off. The state media repeat that the police shut down a drug trafficking ring, but other sources say that anti-government or Islamic extremist groups were discovered by security forces.

It wasn't until September 15 that the state media gave the explanation that there had been an operation to "arrest drug traffickers", and that various police officials had been killed. This was confirmed by President Kurbanguly Berdymukhammedov. The clashes are said to have begun in Khitrovka, " one of the poorest neighborhoods in the capital". There aren't even official figures on the police officers killed, who according to some number about 40.

It seems that the arrests, searches, and interrogations continue, in Ashgabat and in other cities, led by the army.

There is, in practice, no independent media in the country, but opposition websites (which cannot be accessed in Turkmenistan) say there has been a failed attempt to overthrow the government, or a spontaneous protest by the population infuriated over its poverty, unemployment, and lack of any possibility of change. The Russian media, in the meantime, say there has been a "coming to terms" among different groups of the security forces. Experts comment that, in any case, the episode demonstrates how protests and instability are on the rise in the country, and they expect the situation to worsen until power is "concentrated in a single person".

The election of Berdymukhammedov in February of 2007 was greeted with great hope for change, after the 21 years of dictatorial rule of his predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov. But Berdymukhammedov is seen as having seized power through strongarm tactics, with the arrest of interim president Ivezgueldy Ataev. And in practice, nothing has changed: there is no political freedom or freedom of speech, and in spite of the country's extensive natural gas resources, the population lives in poverty.

• turkmenistan
• urban
• fighting
• clashes
• violence
• army
• police
• killed
• revolt
• coup
• dictatorship