Uzbekistan militants seize hostages

March 31, 2004, 11:37AM

Uzbekistan militants seize hostages
Associated Press

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan -- Militants seized hostages during a standoff with authorities after an explosion in Uzbekistan's capital today, police said. A television station reported three wounded in the latest wave of terrorist-related violence in this Central Asian nation.

A grenade that was set up as a booby trap detonated when a police patrol tried to enter the gate of a house in Tashkent, leading to a standoff in which militants took hostages, a police major at the scene said.

Russia's Channel One television reported three people were wounded in the blast in the Sabir-Rakhimovski district of Tashkent, about half a mile from the Chorsu bazaar, where suicide attackers struck Monday.

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