Uzbek President Says Terror Attacks Planned Abroad

Appearing on state television, Karimov offered his condolences to the nation over the deadly attacks and said extremist terrorist groups are responsible for the attacks.

The terrorists have envenomed the New Year holidays, the president told the people.

The Uzbek people do not deserve to witness such attacks, the president said, adding that an Uzbek never kills his compatriots.

Karimov said the situation in Uzbekistan has been calm and stable and it is unlikely that local people have engineered such attacks.

Some suspects who have links with terrorist groups have been arrested in the country and more information will be given to the people soon, the president told the audience.

He said such attacks have been unprecedented in the Central Asian republic and a group or person who has plotted attacks has tried to destabilize the country.

By holding urgent meetings, the Uzbek National Security Commission will try to defuse the situation in the country and prevent such attacks, the president added.

A blast went off at a checkpoint near the Uzbek capital Tuesday, a day after attacks killed 19 in two cities of the Central Asian country.

Several people were hurt when the explosive device went off near a traffic police checkpoint in the Kibraisky region near Tashkent.

Immediately after the blast, unidentified people opened fire on police at the checkpoint and the shootout lasted nearly 10 minutes.

The incident came a day after a series of blasts and police shootouts in Tashkent and the ancient city of Bukhara killed 19 people and injured 26 others.

They were the deadliest attacks in five years to hit the former Soviet republic.

Uzbekistan became a key ally of the United States after the September 11, 2001, attacks, opening up its main military base to U.S. troops fighting in neighboring Afghanistan.

Monday's attacks were the deadliest in Uzbekistan since 1999, when a wave of explosions in Tashkent killed 16 people. Those blasts were blamed on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), which were then based in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban regime then in power.

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