Official: 19 killed, 26 wounded in Uzbek terrorist attacks and explosion of bomb-making factory

Monday, March 29th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) _ Two suicide bombings, attacks on police and an explosion at an alleged terrorist bomb-making factory in Uzbekistan killed 19 people and injured 26, the Central Asian country's prosecutor-general said Monday.

Prosecutor-general Rashid Kadyrov said the events began Sunday night with an explosion that killed 10 people at a house being used by an extremist in the central province of Bukhara.

There were also two attacks on police Sunday night and early Monday, killing three policemen, and two attempted suicide bombings near the Chorsu bazaar in Tashkent's Old City, killing three policemen and a young child, he said.

The suicide bombings were the first ever reported in Uzbekistan. Kadyrov said the attacks were carried out by Islamic extremists _ singling out the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir group and followers of the strict Wahhabi sect of Islam.

``A preliminary investigation shows all the events are interconnected and aimed at the destabilization of the country,'' Kadyrov said.

He said the tactic of suicide bombings was previously unknown in Uzbekistan and indicated foreign involvement in the attacks.

``The character and method of this act is not common to our people. It was probably exported from abroad,'' he said.

The attacks occurred after officials in Pakistan had said Saturday they had wounded the leader of a prominent Uzbek terror group linked to al-Qaida. The Pakistan army said Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan chief Tahir Yuldash was wounded in a military operation to track down terrorists in tribal areas near the Afghan border, but apparently escaped.