Uzbekistan explosions may show the fingerprints of al Qaeda

al Qaeda's tactic of targeting US partners in the ‘war on terror’ seems to have taken another step forward yesterday with a series of explosions in the Uzbekistan capital Tashkent.

The BBC reports that at least 19 people were killed and 26 others injured in the attacks, which included a suicide bomb attack on a shopping bazaar. In a televised address to the nation, President Islam Karimov said that whoever was responsible must have connections with a foreign organisation and that a preliminary investigation showed that the attacks were interconnected and aimed at destabilisation of the country.

The BBC also reports that the country’s Foreign Minister Sadyk Safayev said that the attacks were aimed at undermining the US-led coalition against terrorism, in which Uzbekistan has been a staunch ally of Washington.

Radical Muslim literature was found amongst explosives at one of the crime scenes, however no-one has so far claimed the responsibility for the attacks.

•Date: 30th March 2004 •Region: E.Europe •Type: Article •Topic: Terrorism
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