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| Central Asia | |
| 23 terrorists killed in Tashkent raid | |
| 2004-03-31 | |
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. 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. 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." 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. | |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 The head is up.......it's going,,, going over the fence... it's scooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre! |
| Posted by: Rick 2004-03-31 11:00:27 PM |
| #1 What do you call 23 dead terrorists? A good start. (Thank you, thank you - I'll be here all week.) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-03-31 6:53:16 PM |