Military

DATE=3/30/2004

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=UZBEK / VIOLENCE (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-314595

BYLINE=ANYA ARDEYEVA

DATELINE=MOSCOW

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Uzbek troops Tuesday attacked a hideout of suspected terrorists near the capital, Tashkent, a day after a series of blasts killed at least 19 people in the capital and elsewhere. Anya Ardayeva in Moscow reports local news media say there are casualties on both sides.

TEXT: Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilhom Zakirov said Uzbek Interior Ministry forces attacked a group of suspected terrorists northeast of the capital Tashkent - and were trying, in his words, to expose and exterminate them.

The former Soviet state is Washington's ally in the war against international terrorism and provides an airbase for U-S operations in neighboring Afghanistan.

The Uzbek military operation began Tuesday morning following an explosion near a police checkpoint on the road which leads to the official residence of Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov. Soldiers and police then used empty trucks and an armored personnel carrier to block vehicles along the road.

According to the spokeswoman for the Uzbek Prosecutor-General office, the operation was one of several under way in Tashkent and the surrounding area.

Security has been beefed up across the country after a series of explosions in Tashkent and the ancient city of Bukhara in the last two days.

The first blast on Sunday night destroyed a house used by alleged terrorists in the central region of Bukhara. Later, police reportedly found 50 bottles with homemade ingredients for bombs and instructions on how to make them, a Kalashnikov rifle, two pistols, ammunition and Islamic literature.

Three police officers were killed after several assaults on police checkpoints on Monday. Also on that day, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at a bus stop near the Chorsu market in Tashkent's old city, killing three policemen and a child. Suicide bombings have never happened in Uzbekistan before.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov said the attacks were planned six to eight months in advance and had been originally set to take place around the Central Asian New Year holiday Navruz on March 21. He blamed the violence on Islamic extremists and said a banned radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir, or the Party of Liberation could have been involved using additional support from abroad. The group, has denied any responsibility. 11 people have been detained in connection with the attacks.

NEB/AA/MAR