Up to 23 killed as Tashkent terror battles continue

CLASHES between police and suspected terrorists, including two suicide bombers, killed at least 23 people yesterday in a third day of violence in the capital of Uzbekistan, authorities said.

Attacks on Sunday and Monday had killed another 19 people and wounded 26 in the worst unrest in this majority Muslim country since the secular government became a staunch American ally after the September 11, 2001, atrocities. Uzbekistan hosts hundreds of American troops at a tightly secured military base near the Afghan border.

Uzbek forces also laid siege to a group of terror suspects near the president’s residence.