19 Dead, 26 Wounded in Uzbek Explosions
Anya Ardayeva

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

Meanwhile, Uzbek police were attacked Sunday night and early Monday and at least three officers were killed. At mid-morning on Monday, 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（初步的）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 11, 2001.