BISHKEK (AFP) - Kyrgyzstan's new leaders tightened their grip on power, naming an interim head of state and calling a fresh election, as the nation's ousted ruler denounced what he called a coup d'etat and vowed to return.

AFP Photo AP Photo Slideshow: Kyrgyzstan Unrest

In Bishkek, gunshots were heard in several areas as security forces fired into the air to restore order in the capital, where businesses were ransacked by looters who again took to the streets, AFP journalists said.

Law enforcement officers were given permission to fire their weapons into the air to disperse large groups of people gathering outside shops, banks and other commercial sites, local media quoted officials as saying.

There were no reports of casualties.

As parliament named Kurmanbek Bakiyev, one of the leaders of the fractious opposition, to head the new regime, deposed president Askar Akayev insisted he had not resigned.

"The rumors about my resignation are not true," he said in an e-mail message to a Kyrgyz news agency, his first public comments since Thursday's protests swept aside his regime in what he called "an unconstitutional coup d'etat."

Akayev confirmed he had left the country but insisted it was only temporary "in order to avoid bloody excesses" and that he would return.

"The attempt to rid me of presidential powers via an unconstitutional route is a crime against the state," he added. "My current stay outside the country is temporary."

It was unclear where Akayev, a 60-year-old who had ruled this impoverished mountainous country of five million on China's western border since 1990, was speaking from.

Unconfirmed reports say he fled to neighbouring Kazakhstan after protesters seized the seat of government and presidency in the capital Bishkek.

Bakiyev, a 55-year-old electrical engineer by training, said new elections for president would be held in June, but did not name a date.

After earlier nominating Rosa Otunbayeva, another opposition figure, as his foreign minister, he said he expected parliament this weekend will approve his government which would serve until the election.

Another opposition leader, Felix Kulov, was earlier named the nation's new security minister.

Bakiyev, a former prime minister, sought to reassure Moscow and Washington that the new leadership would not suddenly change tack.

Significantly, Russia -- Central Asia's main power broker for years -- made it clear it was ready to work with the new Kyrgyz leadership, which President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) said was attuned to Moscow's interests.

He described the regime change as "illegitimate" but laid at least some of the blame on Akayev and said Moscow hoped to establish positive relations with the new leaders.

Bakiyev was also reassuring, pledging to continue Akayev's Russia-friendly policy. "Nobody has any intention of changing these relations, we only aim to develop them," he said, adding that Bishkek needed Russian investment.

He also said he had no plans to review the status of strategic Russian and US military bases on Kyrgyz soil. Moscow wants to maintain its influence while Washington sees the country as a key base in the war on terror.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) in telephone talks late Friday urged "the necessity of restoring law and order in Kyrgyzstan," calling for "support to the Kyrgyz authorities' efforts to put a stop to violence, crime and hooliganism."

Bakiyev told Interfax news agency that the new authorities had no immediate plans to declare a state of emergency to prevent a repeat of the looting that occurred during Thursday and overnight.

Authorities said at least three people were reported killed and 173 others were hospitalized as looters ran wild, stealing anything they could get their hands on.

"The situation is complicated, but we are slowly starting to bring things back to normal," he added in a telephone interview with Interfax.

Outside the headquarters of the interior ministry, police officers handed out helmets, pistols and wooden truncheons to volunteers who signed up to help restore order.

Meanwhile the European Union (news - web sites) called for calm and offered to cooperate with the former Soviet state's new leaders.

The bloc's presidency said it was "ready to cooperate" with the new Kyrgyz leadership and urged it to "take all measures necessary to guarantee security and stability in the country."

The White House appealed for calm in Kyrgyzstan and pledged to work closely with Europe, Kyrgyzstan's neighbors and the ex-Soviet state's new leaders on holding elections there.

But the US State Department said there was no question yet of recognising the country's new leadership.

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