Military

DATE=3/29/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CQ UZBEK/VIOLENCE (L-UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-314573

BYLINE=ANYA ARDAYEVA

DATELINE=MOSCOW

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

///// FIXES TO UZBEK IN TEXT GRAF 2 OF CR2-314571 /////

///// UPDATE CASUALTY FIGURES IN INTRO AS WARRANTED. /////

INTRO: Authorities in Uzbekistan say at least 19 people have been killed and 26 injured in series of terrorist explosions throughout the country. One of the blasts occurred at an alleged terrorist bomb-making factory. Anya Ardayeva reports from Moscow.

TEXT: Uzbekistan's prosecutor-general, Rashid Kadyrov, said the first explosion tore apart a house late Sunday in the central province of Bukhara. He said the building served as a meeting point for religious extremists.

Meanwhile, three Uzbek police officers were killed in attacks late Sunday and early Monday. At mid-morning, authorities said, two suicide bombers blew themselves up near the Chorsu market in the Old City of the capital, Tashkent. Three policemen and a child were reported killed.

According to Mr. Kadyrov, the attacks were carried out by Islamic extremists, such as the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir group and the followers of the strict Wahhabi sect of Islam. He said a preliminary investigation shows all the bombings were linked.

The prosecutor-general also indicated he thought terrorists from other countries could have been involved in the attacks. As he put it, "The character and method of this act is not common to our people. It was probably exported from abroad."

Earlier, Uzbek Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilkhom Zakirov said several people have already been arrested in connection with the bombings and that police had begun questioning them.

In February 1999, a series of bombings in Tashkent killed 16 and injured more than 100 people. Officials blamed those explosions on the militant group Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which has been linked to the al-Qaida terror network.

Uzbekistan provided a vital airbase for U-S troops during its military operations in Afghanistan, which followed terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11th, 2001. (SIGNED)

NEB/AA/ALW/RAE