Posted on 07/31/2004 10:53:56 AM PDT by yonif
Uzbekistan's Interior Minister Zokirjon Almatov said Saturday that police have made a number of arrests in connection with three near-simultaneous suicide attacks in Tashkent the day before, including one at the Israeli embassy that killed two Uzbek security personnel.
A third Uzbek policeman died Saturday of wounds sustained in a similar attack at the United States embassy in the city, in which one other person was hurt. The third explosion at the general prosecutor's office in Tashkent left seven people wounded.
An eight-string Israeli team, including a senior diplomat and security officials, were traveling Saturday to Tashkent to help investigate the bombings, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Rachel Shani said.
Almatov told Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency that authorities had detained a "group of people" on suspicion of involvement in the attacks, but gave no further details.
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 [suicide] operations which confused the apostate government and its infidel allies of Americans and Jews," said the message.
An Uzbek police anti-terror official said Saturday 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, told The Associated Press the bombings were retaliation for the continuing trial of 15 suspects - allegedly tied to Al-Qaida - 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."
He said police were taking "all necessary measures" to ensure security in Tashkent.
The U.S. Embassy said in a statement Saturday 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, Tzvi Cohen, said Friday that no Israelis were hurt in the explosion. The embassy's Israeli staff was holed up in the building after the attack, from where they conveyed messages to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.
The two victims were a member of the Uzbek police and a security guard, the Interior Ministry said. One was Cohen's personal bodyguard, Channel 2 television reported.
All three bombers in the attacks at around 5 P.M. local time (1200 GMT) were men, Uzbekistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilkhom Zakirov said, and one had identification documents indicating he was 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 told Russia's Interfax news agency.
Sources at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said Friday that there had been no warnings at all of a possible attack on the Tashkent embassy, but that they had been aware of the tense security situation in Uzbekistan.
In the wake of the attack, the Foreign Ministry instructed diplomatic staff working abroad to increase the level of alert, Army Radio reported.
Ambassador Cohen told Israel Radio on Friday that embassy security was beefed up after the suicide bombings in Tashkent several months ago.
"There were explosions here at the end of March and the beginning of April but all has been quiet since then," Cohen said. "We have strengthened our security accordingly, and we prepared ourselves for any possible scenario - and unfortunately that arrived today."
Special prayers were being held in synagogues in Tashkent, to be guarded by extra security forces, the Foreign Ministry said.
Israel urges global crackdown on attackers Israel on Friday called for a concerted international drive to root out those behind the series of bombings.
"The world is confronted with a wave of terrorism," Pazner said. "There is an absolute need to unite all efforts to combat this scourge."
"An attack has been carried out in Uzbekistan against American and Israeli targets, meaning three different countries are hit today by the same people who hate democracy and freedom. It is obvious there is a need for a concerted effort against them," Pazner said.
In a statement released on the United Nations' web site, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the attacks. "Targeting of civilians and diplomatic missions is a crime that cannot be justified by any cause," he said.
In the past 35 years, there have been numerous attacks on Israeli missions around the world, including a 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires that killed 28 people, among them four embassy personnel, and wounded some 300 others.
In 1997, two embassy security personnel were wounded in an attack in Amman, and in 1999 around 100 rioters broke into the Israeli Consulate General in Berlin, brandishing clubs, hammers, and iron bars. Israeli security guards shot dead three of the rioters after they took a woman hostage and also tried to seize weapons.
Dang, I'd pay to see a video of that.
It's OUR fault! (/sarcasm)
My Uzbek post was moved to BLOG for some reason.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1182742/posts
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