Uzbekistan explosions leave 19 dead

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

There were two suicide bombings, attacks on police and an explosion at an alleged terrorist bomb-making factory, said prosecutor-general Rashid Kadyrov.

He said the deaths began last night with an explosion that killed 10 people at a house being used by an extremist in the central province of Bukhara.

There were also two attacks overnight that killed three policemen, and two suicide bombings near the Chorzu bazaar in the capital Tashkent’s Old City, killing three policemen and a young child, he said.

Two suicide bombers, thought to be women, are also believed to have died.

The suicide bombings were the first ever reported in Uzbekistan.

Kadyrov said the attacks were carried out by Islamic extremists – singling out the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir group and followers of the strict Wahhabi sect of Islam.

“A preliminary investigation shows all the events are interconnected and aimed at the destabilisation of the country,” Kadyrov said.

He said the tactic of suicide bombings was previously unknown in Uzbekistan and indicated foreign involvement in the attacks.

“The character and method of this act is not common to our people. It was probably exported from abroad,” he said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilkhom Zakirov said arrests had been made and an investigation was under way.

The US embassy warned that “other terrorists are believed still at large and may be attempting additional attacks”.