Wampum

�Such people [Islamists] must be shot in the forehead! If necessary, I�ll shoot them myself.�
Islam Karimov, President of Uzbekistan.

See also earlier posts on the Central Asia Oil Pipeline (Uzbekistan to Gwadar, Pakistan, via Turkmenistan to Afghanistan) in the "Is Pakistan?" series. Uzbekistan is the eighth-largest producer of natural gas in the world, and Turkmenistan exports natural gas via Uzbekistan to Russia.

Best "other side" view: www.muslimuzbekistan.com.

Update: (2) Imran Wahid, a Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman in London, has denied any involvement by Hizb ut-Tahrir in the unrest in Andijan. Recall that in August 2004, President Islam Karimov has fingered the Hizb ut Tahrir for two bomb attacks on the diplomatic posts of the US and Israel in Tashkent, before any forensic evidence could have supported any assignment of blame. Ultimately the August 2004 attacks were claimed by Islamic Jihad in Uzbekistan.

(1) An AFP reporter in Andijan has seen 20 to 30 bodies. The central hospital in Andijan reports it has received 50 bodies. Saidjahon Zaynobidinov, president of the human rights organization Appeletsia reported via phone to Interfax, "At dawn the bodies were taken in five vehicles, three ZIL trucks, a Oural truck and a bus. The trucks and bus were filled with bodies. Other reports from Andijan have the number of civilians killed by the military at 300 to 500. End update.

For readers who may have missed coverage of Central Asia -- when I started writing about the election cycle for the 7th Majlis in Iran, I started to get mail. Relevant to the news from Andijan (Ferghana valley) are these two items: This morning's mail from Central Asia (August 04, 2004) and Political Program of the Hizb ut-Tahrir (September 11, 2004).

This evening's news from Andijan (eastern Uzbeckistan) via Moscow and directly from Andijan is the confirmed dead count is 10, but fighting has continued into the night, and the number now at 50 and growing. State forces using assault weapons and armor attacked a crowd of between 2,000 and 5,000 mostly unarmed persons who formed a protective perimeter around the city municipal buildings.

Earlier today between 50 and 100 persons seized a military garrison and its weapons, then attacked a prision, liberating about 2,000 prisioners according to a Uzbek human rights organization, and then seized the town administration building where they were joined by several thousand residents who sought jobs and a relaxation of the worst-in-the-former-Soviet-Union dictatorship of Islam Karimov.

CNN and the BBC in Uzbekistan are blocked by jammers, and state controlled TV is running entertainment and music. There are burnt out cars in the streets. Two theaters were burned overnight.

The residents have asked for Russia to mediate but Sergey Lavrov, head of Russian diplomatic mission to Uzbeckistan declined, labeling the Andijan uprising an internal affair of Uzbeckistan.

I recommend reading the political program of the Hizb ut-Tahrir. It helps to know who's who. The proximal cause (other than Karimov's absurd dictatorship) is the arrest and pre-trial conviction of 23 local businessmen as "Islamic terrorists", a thesis Whitehouse spokesperson Scott McClellan bought and resold to the evening gaggle, without any apparent thought.

Karshi-Kanabad (K2) Airbase, a/k/a Camp Stronghold Freedom, is a logistics base that supports US Army operations in Afganistan.

Also blogging: billmon.