RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES CLAIM TO HAVE APPREHENDED UZBEK TERRORISTS.

Russia’s Internal Affairs Minister, Sergei Stepashin, announced yesterday the arrest in Moscow of a citizen of Uzbekistan, suspected of involvement in the February 16 terrorist bombings in Tashkent. Also yesterday, security agencies in Russia’s republic of Dagestan (North Caucasus). announced the arrest of three armed Uzbeks who were crossing into Dagestan from Chechnya. The three are said to have admitted that they had undergone paramilitary training in the camp of a Chechen commander “insubordinate to the official Chechen leadership” (NTV, Russian agencies, February 25). There was no immediate independent confirmation of these versions. Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who narrowly escaped death, has listed “Islamic radicals” in Chechnya as one among several possible sources of the attacks in Tashkent (see the Monitor, February 24).

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