Saturday, Jul 31, 2004
Al-Qaeda hand seen in Uzbekistan blasts
By Vladimir Radyuhin
MOSCOW, JULY 30. A series of bomb blasts hit Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, on Friday killing at least two and wounding five people, Russian news agencies said.
Suicide bombers set off explosions inside the general prosecutor's office and near the embassies of the United States and Israel. The Itar-Tass news agency quoted Uzbek officials as saying five persons were injured in the general prosecutor's office.
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy told the Interfax news agency that two Uzbek employees of the embassy were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt outside the embassy compound. Itar-Tass quoted unconfirmed reports as saying several people were injured near the U.S. embassy in Tashkent.
The blasts came as a trial of 15 suspected terrorists opened in Uzbekistan on Friday. They are charged with carrying out a series of bomb and gun attacks in Tashkent and Bukhara in March that left 47 people dead. Uzbek security officials linked the attacks to Al-Qaeda.
Copyright © 2004, The Hindu.