No surprise, since five years ago, Uzbekistan was predicted to be the “New Terror Central.” “Islamic Jihad admits responsibility for attacks in Khanabad,” from Interfax, May 27:
Moscow, May 27, Interfax – The Islamic Jihad group has said it was responsible for the attacks in the Uzbek town of Khanabad on Tuesday.
The Islamist organization issued a statement in the wake of the attack: “several editor’s offices received a statement from a person who claimed that he represented the Islamic Jihad,” the Uznews.net website reports.
The authors of the statement claimed that “a group of Mujahideen of the Maveranahr unit of the Islamic Jihad organization carried an armed attack on the departments of police and the National Security Service in the town of Khanabad, Andizhan region.”
“Mujahideen completed their mission and successfully, without losses, returned to their quarters,” the statement reads.
The statement “was written in correct Uzbek language using Cyrillic script,” the Uznews.net website said.
According to the statement, the attack was revenge against Uzbek authorities for “the murder of innocent Muslims.”
Islamic Jihad also took on responsibility for explosions which took place in the Andizhan region on May 26.
According to the Uznews.net, a total 16 people were killed in the May 26 events in Khanabad and the Andizhan province. Sources in Andizhan said that more than one explosion rocked Andizhan, the website reports. A second explosion occurred in the Istanbul shop where, according to one of the theories, “one or several armed suspects were hiding and soldiers were called in to neutralize them,” the website reports.