Uzbek police said Tuesday they had detained most of those suspected in last week's terror attacks, including the alleged masterminds of the string of bombings and shootings that killed 47 people. But an Uzbek human rights groups accused the government of using the attacks as a pretext to step up its campaign against religious Muslims and said authorities were detaining innocent people.
| To most "human rights" groups, there's not a real difference between a "pretext" and a "reason." |
Surat Ikramov, head of the Independent Human Rights Initiatives Group, said relatives, even children, of devout Muslims arrested before the attacks were being detained by investigators. Thousands of religious Uzbek Muslims have reportedly been jailed in recent years for practicing Islam outside government-sanctioned institutions, according to Uzbek and international human rights groups.
| "Just innocent Muslims, going about their business..." |
The attacks last week included Central Asia's first-ever suicide bombings and mainly targeted police, killing 10 officers and four civilians. Thirty-three alleged terrorists also were killed in four days of explosions, suicide attacks and assaults on police that began March 28. "Most of the people we have been searching for, including some of their leaders, have been detained," Oleg Bichenov, the Tashkent police deputy anti-terrorism chief, told The Associated Press. He refused to say how many people were in custody, but Uzbekistan's prosecutor general said last week at least 19 people had been arrested, including four women. Investigators were establishing who was behind the attacks, Bichenov said. He refused to elaborate, but Uzbek officials have said the attackers were linked to international terrorist groups.
| A tentacle of Tawhid, perhaps? |
However, Ikramov, the human rights activist, said he believed the attacks were "a protest against the regime as they targeted police."
| Suicide bombers and shootouts being merely another form of protest... |
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