BBC News Online: Despatches

Uzbek town tense after string of killings

There are new signs of tension in Uzbekistan, where at least two militiamen have been shot dead, the latest in a string of killings in the city of Namangan. Police have already detained several hundred people in Namangan, before a gunman shot the militiamen and injured others. Namangan is perhaps the biggest stronghold of traditional Islam in central Asia, and the secular authorities are extremely wary of trouble there. Armed police have set up road blocks all around the city and the wave of arrests is continuing. From central Asia, Monica Whitlock reports.

Namangan is no ordinary city. The call to prayer draws the faithful in their thousands and you can still see the kind of Islamic dress worn by central Asian women a hundred years ago.

The murders have touched upon tensions the secular authorities most dread. Among the hundreds of people rounded up large numbers are devout believers.

Militia are stopping cars to check for what they call Wahhabis, meaning, basically, young men with beards. The Muslim lobby has responded with outrage.

It believes the police-sweep is an excuse to arrest its followers. Even apart from the religious aspect, the murders have unnerved Uzbekistan deeply, especially the macabre beheading of a senior policman.

At least five figures of authority have been killed in a week, and this in a state that prides itself on law and order at any price. What's especially telling is that the two most recent killings happened after the police had already detained such huge numbers of people.

True to form, state television and radio have kept complete silence over the whole affair and people in Namangan are not telling for fear their phones have been bugged. But, by word of mouth and rumour, everyone knows that something very untoward is unfolding in this important city.

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