Coordinated bombing attacks struck the U.S. and Israeli embassies and the prosecutor's office in the Uzbek capital Tashkent on Friday, causing a number of casualties.
Sources said a suicide bomber killed two local workers as he activated a bomb in front of the Israeli embassy. Israel radio also said the attack on the Embassy was a suicide assault and that one of the dead there was an Uzbek security guard.
The embassy's Israeli staff was holed up in the building.
Russia's Interfax news agency reported there were deaths in a blast at the general prosecutor's office. It added a man with an explosive belt on his waist detonated bomb outside the American Embassy and Uzbek security forces surrounded the compound, stopping all traffic.
Earlier this year, following deadly bombing attacks that killed scores, Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov has blamed "foreigners," suggesting possible Al Qaeda connections. It should be recalled that Karimov let U.S. forces use an Uzbek air base during the war in Afghanistan.
(albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
