Kyrgyzstan's interim government declared June 16 a day of mourning for the victims of ethnic violence in the south of the country.

"It is a great loss for us. We will pay tribute to all who died. I will sign a decree over the mourning day," interim Kyrgyz leader Rosa Otunbayeva said Tuesday.

At least 170 people have been killed in the clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek centered in the cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad near the border with Uzbekistan.

The violence started in Kyrgystan's second-largest city of Osh last Thursday and spread to the wider region in five days of unrest that saw cars set on fire and stores, markets and residential buildings smashed, looted and burned, RIA Novosti reported.