Uzbek President Islam Karimov suffers stroke

Uzbek President Islam Karimov is in intensive care after suffering a brain haemorrhage, his daughter Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva said.

"His condition is considered stable" and "it is too early to make any predictions about his future health," Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva wrote on her Instagram account.

Ms Karimova-Tillyaeva pleaded for people to "refrain from speculations", BBC reports.

Karimov has been leader of the former Soviet republic since before independence in 1991.

In an unusual move on Sunday, the Uzbek government admitted he was receiving treatment but did not give details.

President Karimov is known to have health issues, but the government has never previously issued a statement about his health.

In her message, Ms Karimova-Tillyaeva, who serves as Uzbekistan's ambassador to Unesco in Paris, asked people "to show respect to our family's right to privacy".