Uzbek hunt for Islamic extremists

Thirty people have been arrested in Uzbekistan on terrorism charges in the wake of three days of attacks that killed 42 people in the former Soviet republic in central Asia.

The violence, carried out by suspected Islamic militants, has been Uzbekistan’s most serious unrest since it let hundreds of US troops use a base near the Afghan border after the September 11 terror attacks.

Amid heightened security in the capital Tashkent, police said they were still searching for suspects.

Police anti-terrorism deputy chief Oleg Bichenov said interrogations so far found that none were members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an extremist Islamic group that President Islam Karimov has implied were behind the attacks.

Instead, Bichenov said the suspects were aligned with the Wahhabi sect of Islam.

Hizb ut-Tahrir – which claims to disavow violence, while not explicitly ruling it out in its quest to create an Islamic state across the world – has never been linked to any terrorist attacks.

Its office in Britain, where the group is allowed to operate openly, denied responsibility for events in Uzbekistan.

Uzbek authorities claim Hizb ut-Tahrir is a breeding ground for terrorists and have sought unsuccessfully to have Washington label it a terrorist group.

The Wahhabis are adherent of the Islamic sect dominant in Saudi Arabia that is believed to have inspired Osama bin Laden – and has also attracted many followers across Central Asia and the Caucasus.