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| Central Asia |
| ICT summary of Tashkent booms |
| 2004-08-01 |
| Suicide bombers struck the US and Israeli embassies and Uzbekistan's prosecutor general's office in simultaneous attacks in Tashkent, killing themselves and at least two other people. In a telephone interview with the New York Times, Mark Sofer, a deputy director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the bomb at the Israeli Embassy exploded near the entrance to the diplomatic compound, killing two Uzbek security officers. He said the evidence pointed to at least one suicide attacker, which would be a continuation of a tactic first seen in Uzbekistan this spring. One of those killed was reportedly the personal Uzbek guard of the Israeli ambassador, Zvi Cohen. It was unclear whether the attack on the American Embassy was the work of a suicide bomber. Several reports indicated that the blast was triggered by a man wearing an explosive vest and that as many as five people had been killed. However, the reportes were not confirmed by the Uzbek or American governments. According to the New York Times, the American Embassy in Tashkent has long been identified as vulnerable, due to its proximity to a busy city thoroughfare. The State Department has already broken ground for a more modern building with higher security. A third bomb targeted the lobby of the Uzbekistan prosecutor's office and injured two guards and two officials. A spokeswoman at the Uzbek general prosecutor's office, Svetlana Artykova, said the bomb there detonated just inside the building's entrance, heavily damaging the lobby and wounding several people. Artykova said it was not clear whether the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber or whether the attacker had planted an explosive device in the building. Uzbekistan's state-controlled television said that a total of two people were killed and nine others injured, with two of them in serious condition. However, the Russian Interfax news agency quoted an identified source as saying that eight people had been killed outside the US compound, four policemen guarding the building and four civilians. The Interfax report could not be confirmed. A nurse quoted by the AFP said that at least five bodies had been brought to her hospital. Uzbekistan is an authoritarian state without independent news media, and its government released only limited details about the attacks. The attacks coincided with the end of the first week of the trial of 15 Uzbeks accused of taking part in guerrilla and suicide bomb attacks against the government this year that left 47 people dead. The wave of violence in March and April included the first-ever suicide attacks in Central Asia. The defendants in the trial have said the U.S. and Israeli embassies were among the targets their group planned to attack. Friday's bombing marked the first time that foreign interests were targeted, rather than local government symbols. Friday's attacks were claimed by the same group that claimed responsibility for the March-April violence. The claim was posted on an Islamic Web site that had carried messages by Islamist militants in the past. "A group of young Muslims from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan carried out martyrdom operations today against the embassies of America and Israel and the office of the prosecutor general, which started a few days ago to try several brethren from the group," the statement said. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |