Uzbek police report new explosion

An explosion and shoot-out between Uzbek police and alleged terrorists outside the capital Tashkent today left several injured, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing law enforcement sources.

The incident followed a two-day spasm of violence, including two suicide bombings, two assaults on police and an explosion at a bomb-making hideaway, which killed at least 19 people altogether.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov blamed Islamic extremists for the violence on Sunday and yesterday and said several arrests had been made already.

He said backing for the attacks might have come from a banned radical group that has never before been linked to terrorist acts – Hizb ut-Tahrir, or the Party of Liberation. The group denied responsibility.