Three killed in Uzbekistan blasts
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan -- At least three people were killed and several others wounded in explosion near the U.S. and Israeli embassies as well as at the state prosecutor's office the Uzbek capital of Tashkent.
A group calling itself the Islamic Jihad Group in Uzbekistan claimed responsibility for the attacks. The claim was made in a statement posted to an Islamic Web site linked to al Qaeda.
Two people -- described as Uzbek security guards -- were killed Friday in an explosion at the entrance of the Israeli Embassy, an embassy official said.
"We still don't know if it was a bomb or a suicide bomber and two local workers were killed," Ambassador Zvi Cohen said on Israel Radio.
Cohen said that all Israeli Embassy personnel are "healthy and fine."
"We contacted all the Israelis in Tashkent. We know who they are and where they live and their phone numbers and we told them all to stay, at this stage, at home, and they are all fine," he said.
Another explosion occurred "in the vicinity" of the U.S. Embassy, said Heather Grant, a press attache for the embassy in Tashkent.
Everyone at the U.S. Embassy has been accounted for, a State Department official told CNN.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilkhom Zakirov said two people injured at the U.S. Embassy.
The third explosion, at the prosecutor general's office, killed one person and wounded five others.
Friday's blasts came as the first 15 suspects were on trial for a wave of violence earlier this year that left at least 47 people dead.
Those attacks had included Central Asia's first-ever suicide bombings.
Violence has flared in Uzbekistan since the former Soviet republic allowed hundreds of U.S. troops to use a base near the Afghan border after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov has blamed the attacks on Islamic extremists.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
