The news of violent riots in the eastern town of Andijan in Uzbekistan has had international media outlets scrambling to find on-the-ground coverage. Many international news outlets, including the BBC, have been unable to field correspondents any closer than Tashkent, the country's capital roughly 300 miles away. The situation means there's a lag in good coverage: the most recent reports I can find are at msnbc and agence france presse. There's also a gruelling collection of photographs from the scene, hosted at muslimuzbekistan.net.

It is at times like this that the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, which is dedicated to training reporters in areas of conflict, shows what it's here for. Check here for eyewitness accounts as they come in. But the surprise sources have been the blogs, particularly registan.net, scrapsofmoscow (where you can find translations of the latest Russian reports) and thinking-east.net, run by ex-openDemocracy star Ben Paarman.

And whilst you're searching for the facts, don't forget there is still the truth to be found too. Our 2004 piece by Sabine Freizer is a good place to start.