KARASU, Uzbekistan – Sitting cross-legged on a faded carpet, a lamb skewer in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, Bakhtiyar Gulamjamogli explained why the people of his small Uzbek town have risen up against their government.

“We are like slaves. Those who work hard have nothing to eat, while the president, the mayors, and the police live off bribes and have everything,” he said. “That is why I and others here are trying to lead our people to freedom, to life, and to prosperity.”

Unrest and violence have spread across eastern Uzbekistan since government forces opened fire on demonstrators in the city of Andijan on Friday. Estimates for the number of dead vary widely. Uzbekistan’s prosecutor-general said yesterday that 169 had died and that “not a single civilian was killed by government forces.” He branded those who took part in the rebellion “terrorists” and said almost all of those killed had weapons. Witnesses and human rights groups have put the death toll at about 500 and said only a handful of demonstrators were armed. An Uzbek opposition party said yesterday that it had compiled a list of 745 people killed.

Witnesses reported more gun battles in the region yesterday, and thousands of refugees are believed to be fleeing the country. The violence has been the worst since Uzbekistan gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Details are vague and the Uzbek government has severely limited access in the eastern Ferghana Valley.

But the scale of the chaos was clear yesterday in Karasu, a town of 50,000 straddling the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border and only 50 miles from Andijan. Not a single official, police officer, or soldier remains in the town after residents chased them out and torched government buildings on Saturday. Frontier guards and customs officers have abandoned their posts, and residents freely cross back and forth across the border.

Now its townspeople are bracing for the inevitable government crackdown.

“Of course they will come back, when things have quieted down,” one citizen who identified himself as Mohamijan, 53, said. “But if they come now, there will be violence. They are afraid of the people now because we taught them a lesson.”

Mr. Gulamjamogli, a wealthy businessman and one of the rebellion’s leaders, said no one was killed or seriously injured in the rioting, but other residents reported that the town’s mayor and a number of police were beaten. Security forces retreated to checkpoints about four miles outside the town but are allowing residents to pass through.

He said the riots were caused by outrage over the crackdown in Andijan and years of frustration with corrupt officials who wanted to control profitable trading with the Kyrgyz side of town across the Shakhrikhansai River.

Mr. Gulamjamogli said town leaders are negotiating with authorities over the town’s return to government hands. They are demanding that the previous officials be replaced and that the bridges remain open. If the government does not accept their terms, he said, more bloodshed is all but certain.

“If we are attacked, we have the right to defend ourselves. If a war starts, we are all soldiers,” he said, turning to look at a half-dozen nodding friends dressed, like Mr. Gulamjamogli, in traditional Uzbek white robes.

The Uzbek president, Islam Karimov, accuses rebels of being Islamic extremists allied with international terrorist organizations, but critics say Mr. Karimov is using the threat of Islamic extremism as an excuse to crack down on the opposition.

In Karasu yesterday, there seemed little doubt that Islamic fundamentalism had played some role in the rebellion. The revolt’s leaders, including Mr. Gulamjamogli, made no secret of radical views. He said he supported the establishment of an Islamic state in Central Asia and that Uzbeks should shun Western culture and technology.

A few hours’ drive north along the border, near the Kyrgyz city of Jalal-Abad, more than 500 residents of Andijan, including some who were wounded in Friday’s attack, are living at a makeshift refugee camp. A 48-year-old carpenter who addressed the demonstration in Andijan, Nematjon Akrumov, confirmed accounts that soldiers fired indiscriminately into the crowd of thousands, which included many families.

“At first we thought they were shooting into the air but then I saw that they were firing on people with machine guns and sniper rifles,” he said. “They shot women, they shot children, it didn’t matter.”

Mr. Akrumov and his family fled that night for Kyrgyzstan. When their column of refugees reached the border the next morning, they were fired on again by Uzbek troops and 11 more were killed, he said. The refugees are now waiting for word from Kyrgyz authorities on whether they will be forced to return to Uzbekistan.

A State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said Monday: “We are deeply disturbed by the reports that the Uzbek authorities fired on demonstrators. We certainly condemn the indiscriminate use of force against unarmed civilians and deeply regret any loss of life.” At a press conference yesterday, Mr. Karimov told Mr. Boucher to heed his own advice. “He should apply the same principles to himself and his country if you take into account those wars the U.S. government takes part in,” he said.

The violence is sure to worry the Bush administration, which has hailed Mr. Karimov as an ally in the war on terror. Uzbekistan hosts a large American airbase used for operations in neighboring Afghanistan.