Uzbek Bomb Blasts - 07.30.2004

Two Killed in Bombings at U.S., 
Israeli Embassies in Uzbekistan



Ha'aretz - 08.02.04

RFE/RL - 08.02.04

Israel MFA - 08.01.04

Reuters - 07.31.04

Reuters - 07.30.04

---

 Ha'aretz - 08.02.2004

Ha'aretz

Israel, U.S. security staffs to meet Uzbek officials after suicide bombings

By Yossi Melman

Israeli and American delegations will be meeting today with Uzbeki officials to investigate the suicide bombings at the Israeli and the U.S. embassies, and the bombing at the prosecutor's office in the Uzbeki capital of Taskent Friday, in which three people were killed.

Israeli security and political sources expressed doubts as to the ability of the Uzbek authorities to investigate the attacks thoroughly, after President Islam Karimov named the suspects in a televised speech as members of Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami, the Islamic Liberation Party. Karimov has been conducting a ruthless campaign against the party in recent years, during which his forces have arrested thousands of people identified with it.

But intelligence experts in Israel, the U.S. and Uzbekistan believe that another group, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), is behind the attacks. While the Islamic Liberation Party preaches against President Karimov's regime, it operates mainly on the political level and is not known for involvement in terror. On the other hand, the IMU is known for its international terror connections. Its members trained in Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan in 2001, and a few weeks ago, during a manhunt conducted by Pakistani forces along its border with Afghanistan following a tip that Bin Laden was in the area, a number of Uzbeki members of the IMU were captured or killed.

Representatives of the Shin Bet security services, the Mossad and the Foreign Ministry's security department are expected to be at today's meeting, along with Uzbekistan's deputy foreign minister, deputy interior minister and the head of the country's security forces, and representatives of the FBI and the CIA.

return to top

---

 RFE/RL - 08.02.2004

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty


Islamist Group Denies Role In Uzbek Attacks

2 August 2004 -- The Islamist movement Hizb ut-Tahrir today denied any responsibility for the 30 July suicide bomb attacks in the Uzbek capital Tashkent.

In a statement released from London, the group said it does not engage in "terrorism, violence, or armed struggle." 

Uzbek President Islam Karimov has suggested that the group might be responsible for the attacks that appeared to target the U.S. and Israeli embassies, as well as the state prosecutor's office. Six people, including the suicide bombers, were killed in the blasts. 

Hizb ut-Tahrir today accused Karimov of using the war on terror to demonize Muslims and insisted that it "seeks to change people's thoughts through intelligent discussion and debate." 

The group wants to establish a caliphate in Central Asia's Ferghana Valley, which is shared by Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. It is not known to have been involved in any violent action in the region. 

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan announced today that it has decided to strengthen security along its border with Uzbekistan following the bombings. ITAR-TASS quoted a spokesman for Kazakhstan's National Security Committee as saying the measures include reinforcing both passport and customs controls. 

(RFE/RL/AFP/ITAR-TASS)

return to top

---

 Reuters - 07.31.2004

Uzbekistan Points to Islamists in Suicide Bombings

By Oleg Shchedrov

TASHKENT (Reuters) - Uzbekistan's president said on Saturday a London-based Islamist group that wants to set up a pan-Islamic state in Central Asia was likely involved in Friday's suicide bombings against U.S. and Israeli embassies.

Police rounded up several suspects in the coordinated bombings that killed three people and which also targeted the state prosecutor's office in Tashkent.

The explosions struck the Central Asian city four days after the authoritarian ex-Soviet state, a U.S. ally in the war on terror, put 15 suspected al Qaeda followers on trial for bomb attacks in March that killed nearly 50 people.

President Islam Karimov's government has said a group called Hizb ut-Tahrir was involved in the March bombings, and on Saturday the president pointed the finger at them again.

He said media reports implicating another group, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) -- blamed for a series of bombings in 1999 -- were a smokescreen to divert attention away from Hizb ut-Tahrir.

"From the very beginning some started spreading allegations that IMU was responsible for the blasts," he said. "If the IMU takes the blame for yesterday's events it may produce the impression that Hizb ut-Tahrir is innocent. That is what they want to show."

Itar-TASS news agency said authorities had identified one of the three suicide bombers but declined to reveal the bomber's name or say how many suspects had been arrested.

Karimov cut short his holiday in Crimea, returning to head a government commission to investigate the blasts which killed a security guard and a policeman at the Israeli embassy. Another policeman died overnight from his wounds.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking during a stopover in Bosnia, told reporters: "There have been some initial indications from the government of Uzbekistan as to responsible individuals, but I'd rather it come from them.

"Unfortunately, Uzbekistan has been subjected to these kinds of attacks in the past and I know that their leadership is firmly committed to dealing with terrorism. Uzbekistan has been a good partner with the United States in the global war against terrorism," Powell said.

Russia also condemned those responsible, saying their aim was to "instill fear and mistrust in the population."

RESENTMENT

In Tashkent, the embassies showed almost no signs of damage, but the blast sites were sealed off and security was stepped up outside all embassies and at busy crossroads.

Another little-known group, the Islamic Jihad Group, claimed responsibility for the blasts, saying they were a protest against injustice and in support of Palestinian, Iraqi and Afghan fighters.

Police corruption, extreme poverty and the lack of a legal political opposition have fostered popular resentment and some have embraced a radical brand of Islam.

Uzbekistan's 26 million people are mostly nominally Muslim, although decades of Soviet atheism has made observance patchy.

Five years ago the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan staged a series of bomb attacks in Tashkent which killed 16 and wounded more than 120 people. Karimov, who has crushed any challenge to his authority since Soviet times, narrowly escaped assassination in one of the 1999 blasts. He tolerates only state-sponsored Islam and has cracked down on unauthorized religious or political activity.

In Saturday's address, Karimov said that by fighting Islamic radicalism, Uzbekistan was preventing a larger evil.

"You all know there is one religious group known as Hizb ut-Tahrir. They infect the minds of young people with dangerous ideas of creating a Caliphate in Pakistan, Afghanistan and five central Asian republics," he said.

TASS said Uzbekistan had increased security measures on its borders and neighboring Tajikistan had also raised border security to stop those responsible from seeking safety there.

return to top

---

 Reuters - 07.30.2004

Uzbek Blasts Hit U.S. and Israeli Embassies

By Shamil Baigin 

TASHKENT (Reuters) —  Simultaneous bomb attacks struck the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Uzbekistan as well as the state prosecutor's office in the capital Tashkent Friday, killing at least two people and wounding five. 

The action appeared clearly coordinated, days after the start of a trial in Tashkent of 15 suspected Islamist extremists on charges of trying to overthrow the ex-Soviet state in connection with attacks in March that killed nearly 50 people. 

The three late afternoon blasts in Uzbekistan, a mainly Muslim country that backs Washington's "war on terror" and hosts a U.S. airbase, appeared to have been triggered by suicide bombers, almost certainly on foot. 

The three buildings are spread across the modern city of two million people located in the heart of arid Central Asia. Uzbek President Islam Karimov, visiting Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, was due to return home overnight, local officials said. 

Israeli ambassador Zvi Cohen said two people had died outside the Jewish state's embassy. "A bomb exploded at the entrance to the embassy," he told Israel Radio. 

Cohen said he and three other Israeli officials were in the building at the time along with two local security guards. Security had been stepped up since the earlier bombings. 

"The attacker came as close as possible to the door, saw the Uzbek security men and then detonated himself," an Israeli security source told Reuters. Souces said one of the dead was the ambassador's personal bodyguard, the other an embassy guard. 

Party of a body lay outside the embassy and windows were shattered in single-story houses opposite. 

Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed there were no casualties to embassy personnel or other Israelis in the blast. No one had claimed responsibility for the attack, it said in a statement. 

Security sources said the ministry was sending the head of its security section to Tashkent to investigate the attack and assess what measures could be taken to improve embassy security. 

NONE HURT AT U.S. EMBASSY

The U.S. embassy, reached by telephone from Moscow, said there were no known injuries in the blast outside the building's compound. 

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted an embassy official as saying it had been caused by a suicide bomber with explosives attached to his waist. 

Uzbek Interior Minister Zakirdzhon Almatov said five people were injured at the prosecutor's office, where a man blew himself up in the lobby. 

Police sealed off the building and fire trucks and ambulances were lined up outside, flanked by police carrying automatic weapons. 

The defendants in the mass trial were said to have been followers of the extreme Islamist al Qaeda organization. 

Uzbekistan was a staging post for the U.S. operation that ousted the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan and has allowed Washington the use of an airbase. 

The administration of President Karimov, who unabashedly uses tough methods to root out Islamic extremism, stands accused by rights groups of widespread human rights violations. 

Israel called for a concerted international drive to root out those behind the bombings Friday. 

"The world is confronted with a wave of terrorism," Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner told Reuters. "There is an absolute need to unite all efforts to combat this scourge." 

(additional reporting by Jerusalem bureau)


return to top