BISHKEK -- Authorities in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh have begun carrying out passport checks ahead of the second anniversary of deadly ethnic clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz.

The head of the Osh City Interior Affairs Department, Suyunbek Omurzakov, told RFE/RL that the city has been divided into five zones, and security forces will be supervising public order around the clock.

On May 31, Osh law enforcement officials said a special operation had been launched to confiscate illegal weapons.

More than 400 people were killed in fighting between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in the Osh and Jalal-Abad regions, while an estimated 375,000 people were displaced from their homes in the unrest that began June 10, 2010. 

Most of the victims were ethnic Uzbeks.