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Uzbek Police Storm Militant Hideout; Up to 23 Dead
Reuters ^ | March 30 2004 | Shamil Baigin

Posted on 03/30/2004 1:35:21 PM PST by Dog

Uzbek Police Storm Militant Hideout; Up to 23 Dead

By Shamil Baigin TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (Reuters) - Uzbek special forces stormed a suspected Islamic militants' hideout in a Tashkent suburb on Tuesday, leaving up to 23 people dead after a day-long siege, the Interior Ministry said.

One woman evading capture blew herself up, witnesses said. Her severed head went flying over a wall. The battle erupted in Yalangach, two miles from one of President Islam Karimov's residences, a day after explosions killed 19 people in the Central Asian state. Authorities said Islamic militants triggered those blasts.

When Tuesday's firefight had ended, five corpses clad in black and identified by police as "terrorists" lay outside, each with bullet wounds. An Interior Ministry statement read on television said 20 militants had killed themselves.

"In the process of being detained, 20 terrorists blew themselves up. Along with this, three policemen died and five sustained wounds of various seriousness," the statement said.

Residents and officials at the scene said 20 people were killed in the worst violence to grip the state since Soviet times. Twenty people died in 1999 bomb attacks aimed at Karimov.

Western countries and rights groups have criticized the ex-Soviet state for using tough tactics against Islamic opposition, including accusations of widespread torture.

A suburban resident, Farida, said she saw special forces running away from a woman apparently wearing a belt with explosives, who then pursued a bus carrying morning shift workers. But the vehicle sped away.

"Then the police shot her in the leg, she fell down and then she blew herself up," said Farida. "The woman's head flew over the wall and into the courtyard."

TENSIONS HIGH

Tension remained high after dark in Tashkent, a sprawling city dominated by tatty Soviet-era buildings erected after a 1966 earthquake. Soldiers with Kalashnikov rifles stood on corners and only a handful of cars ventured into the streets.

Lyudmila, 76, said elite troops struck unexpectedly. First the special forces turned up like a bolt from the blue, all wearing masks and armed to the teeth," she said. "Then we were hastily evacuated and -- along with our relatives -- heard explosions and the shooting." Monday's blasts, which the prosecutor general blamed on female suicide bombers, raised concern in Washington, which uses an Uzbek airbase for operations in neighboring Afghanistan.

One group accused by authorities denied involvement.

Imran Waheed, a representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain, told Reuters in London he knew of no members linked to the bomb attacks or arrested afterwards.

"We haven't heard of any backlash against the group...," he said. "An intensification in the repression of our members is to be expected."

Uzbekistan sealed its border with Tajikistan to the east, Tajik border authorities said, and Kazakhstan, to the north, also beefed up border security. In Kyrgyzstan, where Islamic militants staged attacks in 2002 and 2003, authorities reinforced police protection of embassies and other sites.

Two groups, the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights and the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, voiced fears authorities "might take discriminatory and repressive actions" against religious communities and opposition groups.

"Improving human rights in Uzbekistan...could reduce the threat of terrorism," a joint statement issued in Vienna said.

Russia views the region, also including Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, as the "soft underbelly" of the former Soviet Union. Moscow, fighting separatists in its mainly Muslim region of Chechnya, shares Tashkent's concern about Islamist activity or infiltration into the area from Afghanistan.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: centralasia; enemy; hideout; killed; uzbekistan
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To: savedbygrace
She got ahead of herself.........
21 posted on 03/30/2004 2:02:05 PM PST by blackdog (I feed the sheep the coyotes eat)
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To: Dahoser
With the rules imposed on Islamic females, now her husband can take her out and have a good time without showing her face in public. All the good stuff and none of the bad!

I think we've just witnessed Allah's work. He's created the perfect woman!

22 posted on 03/30/2004 2:08:05 PM PST by blackdog (I feed the sheep the coyotes eat)
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To: blackdog
They gave her a head start.
23 posted on 03/30/2004 2:08:18 PM PST by tractorman
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To: Dog
"Improving human rights in Uzbekistan...could reduce the threat of terrorism," a joint statement issued in Vienna said.

Killing terrorists accomplishes that very same thing.

24 posted on 03/30/2004 2:11:09 PM PST by Centurion2000 (Resolve to perform what you must; perform without fail that what you resolve.)
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To: scab4faa
""The woman's head flew over the wall and into the courtyard.""

GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

25 posted on 03/30/2004 2:12:37 PM PST by Rebelbase
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To: swarthyguy
Her severed head went flying over a wall.

heads up...

26 posted on 03/30/2004 2:16:33 PM PST by steveo (My dryer is like watching television. It's a show about wet clothes.)
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To: scab4faa
aack! now I see your post!
27 posted on 03/30/2004 2:17:28 PM PST by steveo (My dryer is like watching television. It's a show about wet clothes.)
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To: johnb838
You won't see a UN security council meet over it.
28 posted on 03/30/2004 2:21:36 PM PST by yonif ("If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem, Let My Right Hand Wither" - Psalms 137:5)
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To: Rebelbase
Terrorists have compounds, not courtyards.

Courtyards are where innocent little children without explosive belts and nails play.

29 posted on 03/30/2004 2:23:59 PM PST by blackdog (I feed the sheep the coyotes eat)
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To: Rebelbase
GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

ROFLMHO!

30 posted on 03/30/2004 2:24:40 PM PST by AngryJawa (Whatever.)
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To: AngryJawa
Point value?????????? And let's see her do that on any given sunday and not in a pre-season game!
31 posted on 03/30/2004 2:27:23 PM PST by blackdog (I feed the sheep the coyotes eat)
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Comment #32 Removed by Moderator

To: blackdog
Point value??????????

Well, we are talking Uzbekistan here, so I'm figuring this as a socceresque (1) point. In soccer, you don't get any extra points by scoring with a header - even if your actual disembodied skull lands in the goal along with the ball.

You know, maybe bomb belts really can make soccer more watchable... 8^)

33 posted on 03/30/2004 2:38:02 PM PST by AngryJawa (Whatever.)
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To: Dog
What a surprise they are going to get when they find out they are some of the virgins.

But on the brighter side, more oxygen for me to breath now that they have departed.

34 posted on 03/30/2004 2:42:33 PM PST by chiefqc
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To: Dog
"In the process of being detained, 20 terrorists blew themselves up."

I'm ashamed of myself for having missed this nugget of joy the first time I read the article. These animals are just f***ed up beyond words.

35 posted on 03/30/2004 2:45:04 PM PST by AngryJawa (Whatever.)
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To: sticker
They only have to wear the burkha's on weekdays.
36 posted on 03/30/2004 3:19:51 PM PST by Mr.Clark (From the darkness....I shall come)
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To: sticker
If male suicide bombers get 72 virgins what do female suicide bombers get?

They get 72 horny bearded camel humpers looking for a hairless boy,But have to settle for her.

37 posted on 03/30/2004 4:37:29 PM PST by HP8753 ("Windage and elevation, Mrs. Langdon, windage and elevation." John Wayne)
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To: Dog; Angelus Errare
UPI Update via TASS! This is the 21st Century! an attack on the American Embassy!

The Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reported a firefight at a checkpoint guarding access to the U.S. embassy in Tashkent. Eight gunmen were killed in the confrontation, ITAR-Tass said

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040330-022006-4548r


38 posted on 03/30/2004 5:25:15 PM PST by swarthyguy
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To: sticker
I've been wondering about that!

Maybe 72 studs for a continuous orgasm?
39 posted on 03/30/2004 5:51:53 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States - and war is what they got!!!!)
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To: Dog
>> Her severed head went flying over a wall.

I think she was blasting out of a sand trap.

40 posted on 03/30/2004 6:31:39 PM PST by T'wit ("I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president!" -- Hillary)
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