Suspects held in Tashkent bombings

Uzbek police carried out a number of arrests yesterday in connection with the three suicide bombings in the capital Tashkent on Friday, targeting the embassies of Israel and the United States, and the general prosecutor's office. Three people, all locals, lost their lives in the attacks and eight were injured.

A team of Israeli officials, including a senior diplomat, Mossad, Shin Bet General Security officers, and forensic experts, left for Tashkent yesterday to help investigate the bombing, the Foreign Ministry said. They are expected to join colleagues from the CIA and the FBI, as well as the local authorities, in gathering clues to identify the perpetrators.

Interior Minister Zakirjan Arbatov yesterday said a "group of people" had been detained on suspicion of being involved, but gave no further details.

He said one of the suicide bombers had been identified but declined to reveal the bomber's name or say how many suspects had been arrested. Hours after the bombings, the Islamic Jihad Group in Uzbekistan, which has links to Al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attacks in a message on an Islamic Web site.

"A group of young Muslims carried out martyrdom operations which confused the apostate government and its infidel allies of Americans and Jews," said the message. An Uzbek police anti-terror official said yesterday that the bombings were the work of the same extremist group behind similar strikes in Uzbekistan earlier this year.

Oleg Bichenov, Tashkent police anti-terrorism chief, said the bombings were retaliation for the continuing trial of 15 suspects, also allegedly tied to al-Qaida, who are charged in attacks four months ago that left at least 47 dead.

"It is connected to the trial and has been carried out by remnants of the same group," Bichenov said. "These are links in one chain." Opposition groups have said the earlier attacks, which targeted police, were motivated by anger at Karimov's repressive regime, despite government attempts to tie them to international terror.

In an attempt to stem extremism, more than 6,000 people have been jailed since the 1990s in a crackdown on Muslims who practice outside the country's state-run mosques, human rights groups say. Police corruption, extreme poverty and the lack of a legal political opposition have fostered popular resentment and some have embraced a radical brand of Islam.

Uzbekistan's 26 million people are mostly nominally Muslim, although decades of Soviet atheism has made observance patchy. Five years ago another Islamic group, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, staged a series of bombings in Tashkent which killed 16 and wounded more than 120 people.

Karimov, who has crushed any challenge to his authority since Soviet times, narrowly escaped assassination in one of the 1999 blasts. He tolerates only state-sponsored Islam and has cracked down on unauthorized religious or political activity.

Bichenov said police were taking "all necessary measures" to ensure security in Tashkent. The U.S. Embassy said in a statement yesterday that a man walked to the main entrance Friday afternoon and was approached by two police guards. He detonated a bomb before he could be questioned. The embassy said it had no details on the bomber's identity or type of explosive.

Israel's ambassador to Uzbekistan, Zvi Cohen, on Friday said no Israelis were hurt in the explosion. The embassy's Israeli staff took refuge inside the delegation's building after the attack.

The two victims were a an Uzbek policeman and a security guard, the Interior Ministry said. One was Cohen's personal bodyguard, Izat Wachislav Makarov, 37, who was at the time in the guard's position in front of the embassy.

All three bombers in the attacks at around 5 P.M. local time were men, Uzbekistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilkhom Zakirov said, and one had the identification documents of an Uzbek citizen.

Almatov said the bombers were prevented from entering the buildings of their targets to inflict more damage. "Terrorists wanted to blow themselves up inside the buildings, but they weren't let to," Almatov said.

The embassies showed almost no signs of damage, but the blast sites were sealed off by police and helmeted soldiers in full combat gear, and security was stepped up outside all embassies and at busy crossroads.

Sources at the Israeli Foreign Ministry said there had been no warnings at all of any possible attack on the Tashkent embassy, but they had been aware of the tense security situation in Uzbekistan. The Foreign Ministry instructed diplomatic staff working abroad to increase the level of alert.

"There were explosions here at the end of March and the beginning of April but all has been quiet since then," Israel's ambassador, Cohen said. "We have strengthened our security accordingly, and we prepared ourselves for any possible scenario, and unfortunately that arrived today."

President Islam Karimov, who returned early yesterday from a vacation, urged a special government commission to take steps to ensure stability and security in the country. The president said the commission would also compensate victims.

Israel is also considering ways to help the families of the two Uzbek security guards killed in the attack on its embassy.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "unfortunately, Uzbekistan has been subjected to these kind of attacks in the past and I know that their leadership is firmly committed to dealing with terrorism. Uzbekistan has been a good partner with the United States in the global war against terrorism."

The commander of the U.S. base in the southern city of Khanabad, where hundreds of American troops are based, said he was monitoring the situation but there were no known threats against the facility. Security is always very high at the base, where American troops keep a low profile and are not allowed to go outside.

"We're aware of the incidents that occurred in Tashkent and are taking appropriate steps," U.S. Army Lt. Col. Neal Kemp said yesterday.

	Debris from the general prosecutor's office after the blast Friday.
	Photo by: AP