Uzbekistan market blast kills two

An explosion ripped through a market in the Uzbek capital Tashkent today, killing at least two people, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Russia’s Echo of Moscow radio reported that the blast was in the Old City, near the entrance to a children’s store.

It said there were several people killed.

Officials at the Interior Ministry and Foreign Ministry in Tashkent refused comment.

A series of bombings in Tashkent in February 1999 were blamed on the terrorist group Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which has been linked to the al-Qaida terror network.