Prime Minister John Howard vowed today to crack down on potential terrorists in Australia but said his administration would not take “extreme” steps to check the threat.

ISLAMIC extremists were blamed yesterday for suicide bombings, attacks on police and an explosion at an alleged terrorist bomb-making factory in Uzbekistan that killed 19 people including the bombers and injured 26.

A series of explosions blamed on Islamic militants in the former Soviet Central Asian state of Uzbekistan left at least 19 people dead today.