A group of foreign diplomats and journalists arrived in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan today to assess the scope of a violent government crackdown on demonstrators.

UZBEKISTAN’S top prosecutor said yesterday that 169 people had been killed in violence in the eastern town of Andijan, including more than 50 foreign fighters.

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.