The U.S. State Department said on Monday it was reviewing an incident during a meeting of Secretary of State John Kerry with Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov in Samarkand in which an American reporter was escorted out after shouting a question.

"People were being ushered out of the room after the photo spray. We are looking at it. We take this seriously," State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told a news briefing.

At the photo opportunity in Samarkand on Sunday, as security men started ushering reporters out of the room, one American reporter shouted a question to Karimov about the U.S. State Department's scathing critique of his human rights record. Karimov ignored the query. Kerry began responding but the reporter was pushed out of the room before he finished.