ALMATY, Sept 2 (Reuters) – Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov is critically ill, his government said on Friday, paving the way for the first transfer of power in Central Asia’s most populous nation since 1989.

Reinforcing the impression that a change of leadership is imminent, the president of the country’s neighbor Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, planned to travel to Uzbekistan on Saturday, a Kazakh government source told Reuters.

The two countries have long vied for regional leadership of the former Soviet states in Central Asia, and both men have held power since independence.

The Uzbek government – which has denied widespread speculation that Karimov, 78, may already have died – said in a statement on Friday that his health had sharply worsened.

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The veteran leader has been in hospital since suffering a stroke last Saturday.

Nazarbayev’s office could not be reached for comment on Friday and a government spokesman declined to comment on his travel plans.

Karimov has ruled Uzbekistan, a major cotton exporter also rich in gold and natural gas, in an authoritarian style since 1989, first as a Communist leader, and then as president from 1991.

He has no obvious successor and analysts say the transition of power is likely to be decided by a small group of senior officials and family members.

If, however, they fail to reach compromise, open confrontation could destabilize the nation of 32 million that has become a target for Islamist militants.

A hint at who is going to succeed Karimov may come with the government’s announcement of his death and whoever it names to head of the commission in charge of organizing the funeral.

(Reporting by Mukhammadsharif Mamatkulov; Aditional reporting by Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty; editing by John Stonestreet)

Contact us at editors@time.com.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Steve Rosenberg assesses the legacy of Islam Karimov

The Uzbek government has confirmed the death of President Islam Karimov, six days after he was taken to hospital with a suspected brain haemorrhage.

One of Asia's most authoritarian leaders, Mr Karimov, 78, died after 27 years in power.

His funeral will be overseen by Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, seen as a potential successor.

Rights groups say Mr Karimov repressed opposition to his rule but for supporters he represented stability.

He will be buried on Saturday in his home city of Samarkand and three days of mourning will be observed.

A United Nations report has described the use of torture under Mr Karimov as "systematic".

The late leader often justified his strong-arm tactics by highlighting the danger from Islamist militancy in the mainly Muslim country, which borders Afghanistan.

Expressing his condolences in a statement (in Russian), Russian President Vladimir Putin described Mr Karimov as a statesman "who had contributed to the security and stability of Central Asia" and who would be a "great loss for the people of Uzbekistan".

Reading the signs: Analysis by Sarah Rainsford, BBC News, Moscow

Image copyright AP Image caption Police outside the Tashkent hospital where Islam Karimov was being treated

The official announcement of Islam Karimov's death came on Friday night but Turkey's prime minister had sent condolences to Tashkent hours earlier - live on television, suggesting the funeral invitations had already gone out. So why did the Uzbek authorities hold back with their statement?

It is possible they were focussed on practicalities - preparing the burial site and gathering suitably senior world dignitaries for the send-off. Perhaps, too, Uzbekistan's powerful security service was stalling, watching for any hint of unrest or a power grab?

But Islam Karimov ruled for more than a quarter of a century without naming a successor so the delay could well point to a struggle for power behind the scenes. It is hard to know, in such a closed system.

That has left Uzbekistan-watchers trying to read the signs. In Soviet times, whoever led the funeral commission would end up running the country. That may mean Prime Minister Mirziyoyev is the man to watch but for Uzbekistan all this is unprecedented and it is early days.

Image copyright AP Image caption Police could be seen guarding an area in Samarkand on Friday

'Immense pain'

President Putin addressed his message to Uzbek senate leader Nigmatulla Yuldashev who, under the constitution, becomes acting president pending early elections.

Mr Yuldashev is unlikely to fill the presidential role more permanently, analysts say.

Mr Mirziyoyev has been in office since 2003 and his deputy, Rustam Azimov, is also seen as a key player.

News of Mr Karimov's death was finally confirmed after several foreign leaders and diplomatic sources reported it on Friday, following days of rumours that he had already died.

"Dear compatriots, it is with an immense pain in our hearts that we inform you of the death of our dear president," a state TV presenter said.

Image copyright Instagram Image caption Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva's post

One of Mr Karimov's daughters, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, posted a black square on Instagram with the words: "He left us... I choose my words and cannot believe it myself..."

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Some say Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev could have the upper hand

Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim broke news of the death at a televised meeting of his cabinet.

Reports from diplomatic sources suggested several regional leaders were making plans to visit Samarkand for the funeral.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is expected to represent Russia.

How rumours grew:

Sunday : President Karimov "receiving in-patient treatment", Uzbek cabinet of ministers announces

: President Karimov "receiving in-patient treatment", Uzbek cabinet of ministers announces Monday : Daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva writes on Instagram that he has suffered a brain haemorrhage

: Daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva writes on Instagram that he has suffered a brain haemorrhage Wednesday : Government cancels some celebrations for independence day on Thursday

: Government cancels some celebrations for independence day on Thursday Thursday : Mr Karimov's independence day speech read out on state TV by a presenter

: Mr Karimov's independence day speech read out on state TV by a presenter Friday: Government confirms death

Some human rights groups say the Uzbek government is one of the most repressive in the world, notably after a crackdown in the eastern city of Andijan in 2005, when hundreds were killed.

Mr Karimov's followers argue that curbs on freedom are a small price to pay for law and order.

"Yes of course, it's a price for stability, because we see what is happening now in Syria, in Iraq, in Yemen, in Afghanistan and even in Europe - you cannot defend yourself from the terrorist attacks," Sherzod Igamberdiev, a lawyer in Tashkent, told BBC News.

"If you put all your efforts into stopping terrorism, you will have criticism, but we live here, we know the situation on the inside, we are satisfied with him, we love him."

Republic of Uzbekistan Capital: Tashkent Population 32 million

Area 447,400 sq km (172,700 sq miles)

Major languages Uzbek, Russian, Tajik

Major religion Islam

Life expectancy 68 years (men), 74 years (women)

Currency Uzbek som

Analysts say Mr Karimov has played Russia, China and the West against each other to keep Uzbekistan from total isolation and to receive limited US aid.

Strains in relations with Moscow have appeared intermittently, notably when Tashkent suspended its membership of a Russian-led military alliance, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation. In 2014, Russia wrote off most of Uzbekistan's foreign debt to Moscow, forgiving $865m.</s>Karimov saw himself as the protector of his Central Asian nation against the threat of militant Islam.

Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov, who diplomatic sources said on Friday had died aged 78 after suffering a stroke, saw himself as the protector of his Central Asian nation against the threat of militant Islam. To his critics, he was a brutal dictator who used torture to stay in power.

Karimov, who steered his former Soviet republic to independence from Moscow in 1991, tellingly chose Tamerlane, the 14th century Central Asian ruler and conqueror with a penchant for mass murder, as Uzbekistan’s national hero.

Karimov brooked no dissent during his 27 years at the helm, stubbornly resisted pressure to reform the moribund Uzbek economy and jealously guarded his country’s independence against Russia and the West. In a typically feisty rebuff to Western calls to respect human rights, Karimov said in 2006: “Do not interfere in our affairs under the pretext of furthering freedom and democracy, Do not...tell us what to do, whom to befriend and how to orient ourselves.”

Under his rule, Uzbekistan, a country of 32 million people straddling the ancient Silk Road that links Asia and Europe, became one of the world’s most isolated and authoritarian nations.

Karimov regularly warned of the threat posed by militant Islamists to the stability of the Central Asian region, but his critics accused him of exaggerating the dangers to justify his crackdowns on political dissent. “Such people must be shot in the head,” he said of the Islamists in a speech to parliament in 1996. “If necessary, if you lack the resolve, I'll shoot them myself.”

Uzbekistan’s relations with the United States and the European Union were frozen after his troops brutally suppressed a popular uprising in the eastern town of Andizhan in May 2005. Hundreds of civilians were killed, according to reports by witnesses and human rights groups.

Karimov shut down a U.S. military air base in Uzbekistan, established after the 9/11 attacks by al Qaeda on the United States. The West imposed a set of sanctions on Uzbekistan and slapped a visa ban on senior Uzbek officials, prompting Karimov to seek improved ties with Soviet-era overlord Russia. But as the West slowly softened its stance on Uzbekistan, a producer of cotton, gold and natural gas, Karimov provided a vital transit route for cargo supplies for the U.S.-led war in neighbouring Afghanistan. — Reuters</s>Islam Karimov, who crushed all opposition in the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan as its only president in a quarter-century of independence from the Soviet Union, has died of a stroke at age 78, the Uzbek government announced Friday.

Karimov will be buried Saturday in the ancient city of Samarkand, his birthplace, the government said in a statement.

His younger daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, said in a social media post Monday that he had been hospitalized in the capital of Tashkent after a brain hemorrhage Aug. 27. On Friday, she posted again, saying: “He is gone.”

Little other information was available. Media freedom and human rights have been harshly repressed ever since he became leader in 1989 while it was still a republic of the Soviet Union.

One of the world’s most authoritarian rulers, Karimov cultivated no apparent successor, and his death raised concerns that the predominantly Sunni Muslim country could face prolonged infighting among clans over its leadership, something its Islamic radical movement could exploit.

“The death of Islam Karimov may open a pretty dangerous period of unpredictability and uncertainty in Uzbekistan,” Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told the Tass news agency.

Given the lack of access to the strategic country, it’s hard to judge how powerful the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan might be. Over the years, the group has been affiliated with the Taliban, al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, and it has sent fighters abroad.

Under the Uzbek constitution, if the president dies his duties pass temporarily to the head of the senate until an election can be held within three months. However, the head of the Uzbek senate is regarded as unlikely to seek permanent power and Karimov’s demise is expected to set off a period of jockeying for political influence.

Karimov was known as a tyrant with an explosive temper and a penchant for cruelty. His troops machine-gunned hundreds of unarmed demonstrators to death during a 2005 uprising, he jailed thousands of political opponents, and his henchmen reportedly boiled some dissidents to death.

He came under widespread international criticism from human rights groups, but because of Uzbekistan’s location as a vital supply route for the war in neighboring Afghanistan, the West sometimes turned a blind eye to his worst abuses.

Noting Karimov’s death, President Barack Obama said in a statement the U.S. “reaffirms its support for the people of Uzbekistan.”

“This week, I congratulated President Karimov and the people of Uzbekistan on their country’s 25 years of independence,” Obama said in the statement. “As Uzbekistan begins a new chapter in its history, the United States remains committed to partnership with Uzbekistan, to its sovereignty, security, and to a future based on the rights of all its citizens.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was “saddened” at Karimov’s death and paid tribute to his efforts “to develop strong ties between Uzbekistan and the United Nations as well as strengthen regional and global peace and security,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Ban singled out Karimov’s promotion of the treaty to establish the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone which entered into force in 2009.

Uzbekistan, a country of 30 million people famous for its apricot orchards, cotton fields and ancient stone cities along the Silk Road, had been one of the Muslim world’s paragons of art and learning.

But Karimov cracked down on any form of Islam that wasn’t patently subservient to him. His leadership style was epitomized by propaganda posters often displayed in Uzbekistan that depicted him alongside Tamerlane, a 14th-century emperor who had conquered a vast region of West, South and Central Asia.

He was known to shout and swear at officials during meetings and it was widely rumored that in bursts of anger he would beat officials and throw ashtrays at them.

Under Karimov, the economy remained centralized, with a handful of officials controlling the most lucrative industries and trade. A 1996 ban on the free convertibility of the national currency, the som, blocked trade and foreign investment, while unemployment soared and poverty was widespread.

Endemic corruption stymied development, despite considerable resources of natural gas and gold, along with its cotton exports. Millions of Uzbeks have flooded into Russia and neighboring Kazakhstan to support their families with remittances that amount to a sizable part of the country’s GDP.

Karimov was suspicious of the West and infuriated by its criticism of his human rights record, but he also dreaded Islamic militancy, fearing it could grow into a strong opposition.

He unleashed a harsh campaign against Muslims starting in 1997 and intensifying in 1999 after eight car bombs exploded near key government buildings in Tashkent. The explosions killed 16 people and wounded more than 100.

“I am ready to rip off the heads of 200 people, to sacrifice their lives, for the sake of peace and tranquility in the country,” Karimov said afterward. “If a child of mine chose such a path, I myself would rip off his head.”

In the next few years, thousands of Muslims who practiced their faith outside government-controlled mosques were rounded up and jailed for alleged links to banned Islamic groups.

In 2004, a series of bombings and attacks on police killed more than 50 people and sparked a new wave of arrests and convictions.

Following 9/11, the West overlooked Karimov’s harsh policies and cut a deal with him in 2001 to use Uzbekistan’s Karshi-Khanabad air base for combat missions in Afghanistan.

During a May 2005 uprising in the eastern city of Andijan, Uzbek troops fired on demonstrators, killing more than 700 people, according to witnesses and human rights groups. It was the world’s worst massacre of protesters since the 1989 bloodbath in China’s Tiananmen Square.

Angered by U.S. criticism of the crackdown, Karimov evicted U.S. forces from the base.

He later quietly softened his position, allowing Uzbekistan to be part of the Northern Distribution Network supply route for Afghanistan, whose utility declined when Russia dropped out of the network in 2015. The United States in turn agreed to start the sale of non-lethal military goods to his regime.

Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov was born on Jan. 30, 1938, and studied economics and engineering in what was then a Soviet republic, rising through the Communist Party bureaucracy.

In 1989, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev made Karimov Uzbekistan’s Communist Party chief in the wake of a huge corruption scandal that involved top Uzbek officials. At the time, Karimov was seen as a hard-working and uncorrupt Communist.

On March 24, 1990, the local parliament elected him president of the Uzbek Socialist Republic, and in December 1991, just days after the Soviet Union ceased to exist, Karimov won the presidency in a popular vote.

Shaken by a series of ethnic and religious riots in the turbulent years surrounding the Soviet collapse, Karimov was obsessed with stability and security. He said Uzbekistan would follow its own path of reform and would build democracy and a market economy without the turmoil and crises of most other former Soviet nations.

After his 1991 election, the fledgling democratic opposition was banned and forced into exile. The media were muzzled by censorship. Law enforcement and security services grew increasingly powerful and abusive, and the use of torture in prisons was labeled “systematic” by international observers.

Karimov’s death would “mark the end of an era in Uzbekistan, but almost certainly not the pattern of grave human rights abuses, said Denis Krivosheev, deputy director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International. “His successor is likely to come from Karimov’s closest circle, where dissenting minds have never been tolerated.”

Karimov was a distant leader. His annual New Year’s address to the nation was always read by a TV anchor. His wife rarely appeared in public, and his vacations were never announced.

But the public was constantly reminded of his leadership by banners with quotes from his speeches posted on buildings and billboards.

All of his election victories were landslides, but none were recognized as free or fair by international observers. His only challenger in 2000, Abdulkhafiz Dzhalolov, said he himself voted for Karimov.

His nephew, opposition journalist Jamshid Karimov, was forcibly committed to a psychiatric institution after a series of articles criticizing his uncle and other officials.

Karimov’s oldest daughter, Gulnara, generated media buzz over her immense wealth, fashion shows and music videos done under the stage name GooGoosha. Sometimes touted as a potential successor, she was both admired and despised at home.

In 2014, she used her Twitter account to accuse Uzbekistan’s security services of orchestrating a campaign of harassment against her and deceiving her father. Her tweets then stopped, prompting speculation that she and her 15-year-old daughter were under house arrest in Tashkent.

Word of Karimov’s death began spreading even before the Uzbek government announced it Friday night, with officials in Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan saying leaders from those countries would attend his funeral and the Turkish prime minister offering condolences. Uzbekistan celebrated its Independence Day on Thursday, which is perhaps why the government had delayed any news about Karimov.

Photos carried Friday by the respected Central Asian news website Fergana.ru showed what appeared to be undertakers in Samarkand working on a plot in the cemetery where Karimov’s family is buried.

The Samarkand airport said it would be closed to all flights except specially approved aircraft Saturday, according to U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s website.

Uzbek opposition blogger Nadezhda Atayeva said Friday that Uzbek authorities appeared to be cracking down on communication channels. Speaking from western France, she said an opposition contact told her via Skype that government officials had been told to turn off their phones and Internet speeds had slowed. As he spoke, she said, the signal went dead.</s>Uzbekistan has been plunged into the greatest period of uncertainty in its post-Soviet history following the death of strongman dictator Islam Karimov.

The 78-year-old, who crushed all opposition in the Central Asian country as its only president in a quarter-century of independence from the Soviet Union, died of a stroke yesterday.

He will be buried at a ceremony today in his home city of Samarkand in central Uzbekistan.

The country will then begin three days of mourning.

His death follows days of speculation that officials were delaying making his death public, with no clear successor for the iron-fisted ruler lined up.

Karimov suffered a stroke last weekend and fell into a coma.

Despite his brutal quarter century rule earning him a reputation abroad as one of the region's most savage despots, people in Karimov's hometown mourned his passing and youths wore black clothes.

His younger daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, said in a social media post Monday that he had been hospitalized in the capital of Tashkent after a brain hemorrhage Aug. 27.

On Friday, she posted again, saying: 'He is gone.'

One of the world's most authoritarian rulers, Karimov cultivated no apparent successor, and his death raised concerns that the predominantly Sunni Muslim country could face prolonged infighting among clans over its leadership, something its Islamic radical movement could exploit.

Alexei Pushkov, head of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee, told the Tass news agency: 'The death of Islam Karimov may open a pretty dangerous period of unpredictability and uncertainty in Uzbekistan.'

Viewed as a tough-guy enforcer, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, 58, appears to be the front-runner to take over long term after he was named head of the committee organising Karimov's funeral. Technocrat Mirziyoyev, who has served as prime minister since 2003, is reported to have close ties to the former president's family and to key security bosses. According to rights activists the former governor of Karimov's home region of Samarkand has been in charge of making sure the country fulfils its annual cotton quotas. That places him at the heart of a industry that is crucial to the Uzbek economy - it is one of the world's leading cotton producers - but is accused of forcing over a million citizens, including children, to pick the cotton each year. Deputy premier and finance minister Azimov, 57, is reportedly viewed by foreign diplomats as more friendly to West, although he is still a key member of Karimov's inner circle. The former banker - in place since 2005 - has been touted as a possible replacement after apparently weathering power struggles. After years at the heart of the Uzbek elite Azimov is implicated in the vast web of corruption that has purportedly seen those close to Karimov amass vast fortunes. After news emerged that Karimov was in hospital rumours flew that Azimov had been placed under house arrest, but they were quickly denied and he has been named as part of Karimov's funeral committee. The country's powerful security chief Inoyatov, who has held the post since 1995, has long been seen as the key power behind the throne. At 72 the former KGB officer may not take the top job himself but the long-time Karimov ally looks likely to have a decisive say in who does. Inoyatov's reputation is seriously tarnished for his alleged role in the bloody suppression of protests in the eastern city of Andijan in 2005 - when hundreds of demonstrators are believed to have been gunned down in a massacre. While officially he controls Uzbekistan's security service he also effectively exerts control over the army and other law enforcement agencies. According to Uzbekistan's constitution, senate leader takes over temporarily until early elections are held within three months. But commentators describe Yuldashev as a little-known 'non-entity' who is unlikely to have the clout to impose himself in the long run. Still likely to play a big role are Karimov's widow Tatyana and his younger daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva. Karimova-Tillyaeva, Uzbekistan's ambassador to UNESCO in Paris, took to social media during her father's illness to confirm he had suffered a brain haemorrhage. She told the BBC in rare comments in 2013 that she did not foresee a career in politics for herself, insisting she was focused on her young family. She also said that she had not spoken to her older sister Gulnara for 12 years. Once seen as a potential heir to her father's throne one-time socialite, pop star and business magnate Gulnara, 44, spectacularly fell from grace in a bitter family feud and was placed under house arrest in 2014. Gulnara, a former ambassador to the UN in Geneva, is being probed in Europe over a $330 million telecoms corruption scandal.

He lead a fearful regime and led through brutal repression, his critics have said.

Steve Swerdlow, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: 'Islam Karimov leaves a legacy of a quarter century of ruthless repression.

'Karimov ruled through fear to erect a system synonymous with the worst human rights abuses: torture, disappearances, forced labour, and the systematic crushing of dissent.'

Nevertheless Karimov's visitors in his last year included US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Given the lack of access to the strategic country, it's hard to judge how powerful the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan might be.

Over the years, the group has been affiliated with the Taliban, al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, and it has sent fighters abroad.

Under the Uzbek constitution, if the president dies his duties pass temporarily to the head of the senate until an election can be held within three months.

However, the head of the Uzbek senate is regarded as unlikely to seek permanent power and Karimov's demise is expected to set off a period of jockeying for political influence.

Karimov was known as a tyrant with an explosive temper and a penchant for cruelty.

His troops machine-gunned hundreds of unarmed demonstrators to death during a 2005 uprising, he jailed thousands of political opponents, and his henchmen reportedly boiled some dissidents to death.

He came under widespread international criticism from human rights groups, but because of Uzbekistan's location as a vital supply route for the war in neighboring Afghanistan, the West sometimes turned a blind eye to his worst abuses.

'When we found out about his death, all my family - by wife, my son's wife, the children - we were all crying, we couldn't believe it,' one local man, 58, told AFP, refusing to give his name.

'It is a great loss for every Uzbek. He made our country free and developed.'

State television in the tightly-controlled nation earlier showed soldiers loading a coffin onto a plane for what it described as Karimov's final journey to Samarkand, with two women who appeared to be his wife and younger daughter weeping on the tarmac.

Authorities said Karimov's coffin would be displayed in a city square for people to pay their last respects before he is buried in a nearby cemetery later Saturday next to other family members.

Eyewitnesses told AFP that they had seen the funeral cortege pass but that the event was open only to guests with official invitations.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is expected to fly in for the funeral, along with a coterie of leaders from former Soviet republics including Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and the prime ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Loyalist Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev heads the organising committee for the funeral, in a sign that he could be the frontrunner to take over long-term from Karimov.

Under Uzbek law, senate head Nigmatulla Yuldashev has now become acting president until early elections are held.

Noting Karimov's death, President Barack Obama said in a statement that the US 'reaffirms its support for the people of Uzbekistan'.

'This week, I congratulated President Karimov and the people of Uzbekistan on their country's 25 years of independence,' Obama said in the statement.

'As Uzbekistan begins a new chapter in its history, the United States remains committed to partnership with Uzbekistan, to its sovereignty, security, and to a future based on the rights of all its citizens.'

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was 'saddened' at Karimov's death and paid tribute to his efforts 'to develop strong ties between Uzbekistan and the United Nations as well as strengthen regional and global peace and security,' UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Ban singled out Karimov's promotion of the treaty to establish the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone which entered into force in 2009.

China's Foreign Ministry called Karimov "a sincere friend" who promoted a strategic partnership between the two countries. His death "is a great loss of the Uzbek people," ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, according to state media.

Uzbekistan, a country of 30 million people famous for its apricot orchards, cotton fields and ancient stone cities along the Silk Road, had been one of the Muslim world's paragons of art and learning.

But Karimov cracked down on any form of Islam that wasn't patently subservient to him. His leadership style was epitomized by propaganda posters often displayed in Uzbekistan that depicted him alongside Tamerlane, a 14th-century emperor who had conquered a vast region of West, South and Central Asia.

He was known to shout and swear at officials during meetings and it was widely rumored that in bursts of anger he would beat officials and throw ashtrays at them.

Under Karimov, the economy remained centralized, with a handful of officials controlling the most lucrative industries and trade. A 1996 ban on the free convertibility of the national currency, the som, blocked trade and foreign investment, while unemployment soared and poverty was widespread.

Endemic corruption stymied development, despite considerable resources of natural gas and gold, along with its cotton exports. Millions of Uzbeks have flooded into Russia and neighboring Kazakhstan to support their families with remittances that amount to a sizable part of the country's GDP.

Karimov was suspicious of the West and infuriated by its criticism of his human rights record, but he also dreaded Islamic militancy, fearing it could grow into a strong opposition.

He unleashed a harsh campaign against Muslims starting in 1997 and intensifying in 1999 after eight car bombs exploded near key government buildings in Tashkent. The explosions killed 16 people and wounded more than 100.

"I am ready to rip off the heads of 200 people, to sacrifice their lives, for the sake of peace and tranquility in the country," Karimov said afterward. "If a child of mine chose such a path, I myself would rip off his head."

In the next few years, thousands of Muslims who practiced their faith outside government-controlled mosques were rounded up and jailed for alleged links to banned Islamic groups.

In 2004, a series of bombings and attacks on police killed more than 50 people and sparked a new wave of arrests and convictions.

Following 9/11, the West overlooked Karimov's harsh policies and cut a deal with him in 2001 to use Uzbekistan's Karshi-Khanabad air base for combat missions in Afghanistan.

During a May 2005 uprising in the eastern city of Andijan, Uzbek troops fired on demonstrators, killing more than 700 people, according to witnesses and human rights groups. It was the world's worst massacre of protesters since the 1989 bloodbath in China's Tiananmen Square.

Angered by U.S. criticism of the crackdown, Karimov evicted U.S. forces from the base.

He later quietly softened his position, allowing Uzbekistan to be part of the Northern Distribution Network supply route for Afghanistan, whose utility declined when Russia dropped out of the network in 2015. The United States in turn agreed to start the sale of non-lethal military goods to his regime.

Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov was born on Jan. 30, 1938, and studied economics and engineering in what was then a Soviet republic, rising through the Communist Party bureaucracy.

In 1989, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev made Karimov Uzbekistan's Communist Party chief in the wake of a huge corruption scandal that involved top Uzbek officials. At the time, Karimov was seen as a hard-working and uncorrupt Communist.

On March 24, 1990, the local parliament elected him president of the Uzbek Socialist Republic, and in December 1991, just days after the Soviet Union ceased to exist, Karimov won the presidency in a popular vote.

Shaken by a series of ethnic and religious riots in the turbulent years surrounding the Soviet collapse, Karimov was obsessed with stability and security. He said Uzbekistan would follow its own path of reform and would build democracy and a market economy without the turmoil and crises of most other former Soviet nations.

After his 1991 election, the fledgling democratic opposition was banned and forced into exile. The media were muzzled by censorship. Law enforcement and security services grew increasingly powerful and abusive, and the use of torture in prisons was labeled "systematic" by international observers.

Karimov's death would "mark the end of an era in Uzbekistan, but almost certainly not the pattern of grave human rights abuses, said Denis Krivosheev, deputy director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International. "His successor is likely to come from Karimov's closest circle, where dissenting minds have never been tolerated."

Karimov was a distant leader. His annual New Year's address to the nation was always read by a TV anchor. His wife rarely appeared in public, and his vacations were never announced.

But the public was constantly reminded of his leadership by banners with quotes from his speeches posted on buildings and billboards.

All of his election victories were landslides, but none were recognized as free or fair by international observers. His only challenger in 2000, Abdulkhafiz Dzhalolov, said he himself voted for Karimov.

His nephew, opposition journalist Jamshid Karimov, was forcibly committed to a psychiatric institution after a series of articles criticizing his uncle and other officials.

Karimov's oldest daughter, Gulnara, generated media buzz over her immense wealth, fashion shows and music videos done under the stage name GooGoosha. Sometimes touted as a potential successor, she was both admired and despised at home.

In 2014, she used her Twitter account to accuse Uzbekistan's security services of orchestrating a campaign of harassment against her and deceiving her father. Her tweets then stopped, prompting speculation that she and her 15-year-old daughter were under house arrest in Tashkent.

Word of Karimov's death began spreading even before the Uzbek government announced it Friday night, with officials in Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan saying leaders from those countries would attend his funeral and the Turkish prime minister offering condolences. Uzbekistan celebrated its Independence Day on Thursday, which is perhaps why the government had delayed any news about Karimov.

Photos carried Friday by the respected Central Asian news website Fergana.ru showed what appeared to be undertakers in Samarkand working on a plot in the cemetery where Karimov's family is buried.

The Samarkand airport said it would be closed to all flights except specially approved aircraft Saturday, according to U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's website.

Uzbek opposition blogger Nadezhda Atayeva said Friday that Uzbek authorities appeared to be cracking down on communication channels. Speaking from western France, she said an opposition contact told her via Skype that government officials had been told to turn off their phones and Internet speeds had slowed. As he spoke, she said, the signal went dead.

Associated Press writers Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow, Angela Charlton in Paris and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.</s>An honour guard stands near a portrait of Uzbek President Islam Karimov during a mourning ceremony following Karimov’s death, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Saturday (Reuters photo)

ALMATY — Islam Karimov, president of Uzbekistan for the past quarter of a century, was buried in his home city of Samarkand on Saturday, leaving behind a power vacuum in a nation that serves as a bulwark against militancy in Central Asia.

Karimov, who was 78, died from a stroke. After a funeral rite in Samarkand's ancient Registan Square attended by hundreds of men — some of whom were in tears — his body was buried at the city's Shah-i-Zinda cemetery, two attendees told Reuters.

Karimov was derided by Western governments as a dictator who violated human rights, but for many people in Uzbekistan, a mainly Muslim ex-Soviet state which borders Afghanistan, he is the only head of state they have ever known.

With no obvious successor, Karimov's death has triggered an outpouring of grief, mixed with uncertainty about the future.

"I still can't believe it happened," said a 39-year-old resident of the capital, Tashkent, who was among thousands who lined the main thoroughfare early on Saturday to watch the funeral cortege pass by en route to Samarkand.

"I don't know what happens now, I am lost," said the man, who declined to be identified.

How the power vacuum is filled in Uzbekistan is of urgent concern to Russia, the United States and China, all powers with interests in the volatile Central Asia region, where Uzbekistan is the most populous state.

Central Asia analysts say a small circle of senior officials and Karimov family members will have been meeting behind closed doors to try to agree on anointing a new president.

The funeral rites offered clues as to who might be in the running. At the Samarkand ceremony, Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev, 59, and Finance Minister Rustam Azimov, 57, were allocated spots in the front row, nearest to Karimov's coffin.

If the elite fail to agree among themselves on a transition, the resulting instability could be exploited by militants who in the past have staged violent attacks in Uzbek cities and want to make Uzbekistan part of a “caliphate”.

Karimov jailed, killed or exiled most of the militants inside Uzbekistan. Many have since joined the Taliban in Afghanistan and Daesh in Iraq and Syria, where they have become battle-hardened.

An upsurge in militant violence in Uzbekistan would pose a threat to the United States, which is trying to contain the insurgency in Afghanistan, to Russia — home to millions of Uzbek migrant workers — and to China, which worries about Central Asian Islamists making common cause with separatists from its mainly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority.

Many people had anticipated that Karimov would be succeeded by his older daughter Gulnara, a businesswoman and pop star, but she fell from favour two years ago and there was no sign of her on Saturday among the family members in the funeral cortège.

At Tashkent airport, as the coffin was being loaded onto a plane bound for Samarkand, Karimov's wife, Tatiana, and his younger daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, stood at the foot of the aircraft steps. His daughter, dressed all in black, was dabbing her eyes with a white handkerchief.

Karimov's death could unleash a new round of jockeying between Russia, the United States and China, which are all trying to bring Central Asia, with its oil and gas reserves and metal ore, into their sphere of influence.

In a statement offering his condolences, US President Barack Obama said his country stood with Uzbekistan as it "begins a new chapter in its history".

Alexei Pushkov, the pro-Kremlin head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia's parliament, responded on Twitter that Obama was "mistaken if he thinks the new chapter is going to be written in Washington".

The most prominent foreign dignitaries at the funeral were Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Tajikistan's President Imomali Rakhmon and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Karimov was the head of the local Communist Party in Uzbekistan when it was still a Soviet republic, and he remained at the helm after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

While other newly independent Soviet republics were convulsed by wars, economic upheaval and political turmoil, life for people in Uzbekistan stayed largely stable, safe and predictable — a state of affairs that Karimov's supporters touted as his great achievement.

"The people of Uzbekistan associate the huge achievements of the country since independence with President Karimov's name," a state television anchor, in a black suit and tie, said on Saturday in an elegy that was preceded by sombre music.

But the stability came at a cost.

Elections were held but were not democratic, according to international observers. To ensure Uzbekistan could earn foreign currency from exporting cotton, people — including children — were press-ganged into going into the fields to help with the harvest, witnesses have told Reuters.

Citing a militant threat, Karimov cracked down ruthlessly on anyone deemed to be a religious extremist. Growing a beard or renouncing alcohol was sometimes enough to earn arrest. Rights groups say detainees were tortured.

In the Uzbek city of Andizhan in May 2005, security forces killed around 500 mostly unarmed people who had been protesting against local officials, witnesses and rights groups said. Karimov put the death toll at 169 and said his forces had put down an armed uprising.

Karimov's own family were not immune from the harsh treatment. In a letter smuggled to a BBC journalist in 2014, Gulnara, the older daughter, alleged she was being held under house arrest by her father's security officials after her family ostracised her.</s>(CNN) Uzbekistan's first and only president has died, leaving an uncertain future for a government marred by controversy.

President Islam Karimov, who ruled Uzbekistan for 25 years, died Friday, the Uzbek government announced on the state-run news agency Uza. He was 78 years old.

Karimov had a stroke and was hospitalized Saturday, his daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva announced on Facebook.

Friday, she posted a black square on her official Instagram account, with the message, "He left us."

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences in a statement on the Kremlin website Friday.

"It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of Islam Karimov to the establishment of relations of strategic partnership between our countries," the Russian President said.

"Under (Karimov's) guidance ... Uzbekistan held a peaceful foreign policy, contributed to the strengthening of security and stability in Central Asia and to the development of multilateral cooperation in the region," Putin added.

Karimov's death leaves the future of the resource-rich country in question, said Andrey Kortunov, president of the New Eurasia Foundation.

There is "no master plan, no successor who has been endorsed and accepted by everybody (in Karimov's inner circle)," Kortunov said.

Karimov became leader of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic in 1989. Two years later, he declared the independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan and assumed the presidency of the new country.

In 1995, his mandate was extended for another five years by referendum. Despite a two-term limit, he won re-election in 2000, 2007 and 2015.

International critics, including Human Rights Watch, said voters had no real choice in the elections because the government restricts opposing political activity.

Human Rights Watch calls the country's human rights record "atrocious," saying "thousands are imprisoned on politically-motivated charges. Torture is endemic in the criminal justice system. Authorities continue to crack down on civil society activists, opposition members, and journalists."

"Meanwhile, telecom users in her impoverished country pay among the highest rates in the world for mobile phone service," the OCCRP report found.

"Once anointed as the heir apparent to her ailing father, she has fallen from favor and is now under house arrest."

Relationship with the US

Karimov's relationship with the United States grew after the 9/11 terror attacks, when Washington was trying to gain the cooperation of countries near Afghanistan during its hunt for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Karimov agreed to allow US forces to use Uzbekistan's airspace and one of its airports.

In a joint statement, the two countries said they agreed "to establish a qualitatively new relationship based on a long-term commitment to advance security and regional stability."

But Karimov's relationship with the US took a hit in 2002, after a State Department report found Karimov's security forces tortured people, especially Muslims, under the guise of combating terrorism.</s>MOSCOW (AP) — Uzbekistan’s government says ailing President Islam Karimov is in a critical state.</s>TASHKENT (TCA) — Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov, who ruled the country for a quarter-century, has died at the age of 78.

Uzbekistan’s state television announced late on September 2 that Karimov died at 8:55 p.m. local time in Tashkent. 



Early on September 2, the Cabinet of Ministers said that during the past 24 hours, Karimov’s health condition had sharply worsened and medics assessed it as “critical”. 



The state TV has announced the death of President Karimov following days of unconfirmed reports suggesting that he had already died. 



The TV presenter read a statement from the Uzbek Cabinet and Parliament, which hailed Karimov as "a great historic figure." 



The anchor said Karimov had died of a stroke, and that his funeral will be held on September 3 in the late President's home city of Samarkand.



Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev was appointed head of a commission organizing Karimov's funeral.



Karimov, the former communist boss, ruled Uzbekistan for 27 years at the center of a tight inner circle and ruthlessly applied the country's security and intelligence forces to keep a firm lid on dissent. His regime was accused of routinely torturing detainees and jailing political opponents, RFE/RL reports.



Karimov has no apparent successor, and speculation has raged for days that a secretive effort was under way to replace him. 



The Uzbek Constitution states that if the president dies or is unable to perform his duties the head of the upper chamber of parliament assumes presidential authority for a period of three months. That is Senate Chairman Nigmatulla Yuldashev, who has led the upper house since January 2015.



Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to Yuldashev, saying Karimov's death was a "heavy loss for Uzbekistan."



"I grieve for the loss of a friend whom I worked with side-by-side for 30 years," Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev was quoted as saying.



Preparations also appeared to be under way for Karimov’s funeral in Samarkand.



Security sources told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev, who has been touted by outsiders as a possible successor, had made a trip to Samarkand. In Karimov's absence, Mirziyaev led a commemorative event in Tashkent on August 31 that marked the start of Independence Day celebrations.



Tajik President Emomali Rahmon confirmed he will attend the funeral while Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani were reported to be also planning to go.



The Russian delegation at the funeral will be headed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, his spokeswoman Natalia Timakova was quoted as saying.



Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus said they were also sending delegations headed by their prime ministers.</s>SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan -- Uzbekistan laid strongman Islam Karimov to rest Saturday amid tight security, after his death triggered the deepest period of uncertainty in the country's post-Soviet history with no clear successor in view.

Karimov, 78, was pronounced dead late Friday after suffering a stroke last weekend and falling into a coma, authorities said, following days of speculation about his rapidly failing health.

An Islamic funeral for the iron-fisted leader — who dominated the ex-Soviet nation for some 27 years — was held in his home city of Samarkand, southwestern Uzbekistan, on Saturday and the country will begin three days of mourning.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and the presidents of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan were among dignitaries attending the memorial service on the famed UNESCO World Heritage site of Registan Square.

Uzbek state television showed footage of mourners carrying Karimov's coffin through a crowd in the historic square which is encircled by blue-domed madrassas.

"Our people and Uzbekistan have suffered an irreplaceable loss," Russian news wire Interfax quoted Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev as saying at the ceremony.

Loyalist Mirziyoyev headed the organizing committee for the funeral, in a sign that he could be the front-runner to replace Karimov.

An AFP journalist in Samarkand — which also houses the mausoleum of feared 14th century warlord Tamerlane — said national flags were flying with black ribbons of mourning attached and that the road to the cemetery where Karimov was buried next to his family was strewn with roses.

Police had cordoned off most of the city center and were not letting ordinary citizens or cars through.

Crowds had earlier reportedly lined the road to watch and throw flowers at the cortege as it drove through the capital Tashkent.

Karimov was one of a handful of Soviet strongmen who clung to power after their homelands gained independence from Moscow in 1991, and he played Russia, the West and China off against each other.

The most serious challenge to his rule came from his eldest daughter, once seen as a possible heir, whom he placed under house arrest in 2014 after a family power struggle erupted publicly.

Uzbekistan has never held elections deemed free and fair by international monitors, and Karimov won his fifth term in office last March with 90 percent of the vote.
President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan dies after 27 years in office.