Suicide Bombers Hit Uzbek Capital, Leaving at least Five Dead

Three suicide bombers struck in the Uzbek capital Tashkent on July 30, leaving at least five dead. The targets - the US and Israeli embassies, along with the Uzbek Prosecutor-General's office – indicate that Islamic militants were responsible for the attacks.

The blasts appeared to be well-coordinated, all detonating around 4:30 pm in Tashkent. According to an eyewitness, at least three members of the Uzbek security detail guarding the Israeli embassy were killed, in addition to the bomber. Two Uzbek security officers died in the attack near the US embassy, witnesses said. One witness also indicated that two children may have been killed, or at least seriously wounded in the US embassy attack. Both embassy buildings suffered no significant structural damage.

Uzbek television carried a report on the bombing during its early evening newscast on July 30, but provided scant details. Uzbek officials told the Russian Itar-Tass news agency that two people – "an Interior Ministry employee and a National Security Service agent" – were killed and at least nine wounded in the attacks. According to Itar-Tass, five people were wounded by the explosion at the prosecutor-general's offices. The suicide bomber reportedly detonated the device inside the building's lobby, the news agency said.

Authorities quickly sealed off Tashkent, preventing vehicles from entering or leaving the capital. Security forces also established checkpoints in the city center, blocking access to President Islam Karimov's palace.

Several known Islamic radical groups – including Hizb-ut-Tahrir and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) – are active in the country. Since surviving an assassination attempt, blamed on Islamic militants, Karimov has cracked down on freedom of speech and religious expression. An estimated 7,000 Uzbeks have been imprisoned over the past five-plus years for engaging in non-state-sanctioned forms of Islamic worship. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

IMU militants carried out raids in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in 1999 and 2000. The movement, which maintained bases in neighboring Afghanistan, was reportedly smashed during the American-led anti-terrorism offensive in late 2001. However, the IMU appears to have regrouped, reportedly establishing new bases of operation in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

The Hizb-ut-Tahrir espouses the non-violent overthrow of Karimov's administration and other Central Asian governments and the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the region. Hizb's anti-government activities have been mainly limited to pamphleteering. However, hardliners within the movement have reportedly pushed for the adoption of more confrontational tactics.

The July 30 suicide bombings came just days after the start of a show trial in Tashkent, featuring 13 men and two women accused of carrying out attacks in late March that left at least 47 people dead. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. During testimony on July 29, one defendant, Hikmatullah Eshmatov, said he had received weapons training at a facility near the southern Kazakhstani city of Shymkent. Eshmatov admitted that "he was a member of a criminal group and that its aim was to build an Islamic state," Uzbek television reported. "He admitted that he had become involved in these activities by mistake. He admitted his guilt and asked the court to forgive him." According to Uzbek television, Eshmatov and other defendants were affiliated with a radical Islamic group called Jamiyat, or Society.