On May 26, 2009, Uzbek troops were deployed on the border with Kyrgyzstan. The alert on the border was caused by unknown extremists attacking a border post on the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border, as well as the National Security Service and Internal Affairs Administration buildings in the city of Khanabad in the Andijan region. Later during the day, a suicide bombing took place in the city of Andijan. The attack was claimed by the Islamic organization “Islamic Jihad”, which claimed it was directed against President Karimov and his actions against the Muslims of Uzbekistan. While investigations on the identity of the attackers, the causes of the attack and further activities in relation to the incident are yet underway, most of Uzbekistan’s population does not have proper information about it. Moreover, the mobile phone network and the internet were blocked in Khanabad the day after the attack. The information vacuum results in a number of versions which interpret and explain the attacks in Khanabad very differently.

Exactly because there is little reliable information available and not one official report on the incident, the variety of speculation about the incident is enormous. Firstly, it is unclear how many attackers there were. Some sources suggest five to twenty individuals; Uzbekistan’s Prosecutor General’s Office claims there were just two or three, and residents of Andijan say there were no more than ten attackers. Similar ambiguity concerns the number of places that were supposedly attacked and the weapons used. Thus, the official statement of the Uzbek authorities mentions only the attacks on the border post in Khanabad and the buildings of the Security Service and Internal Affairs Administration, and the suicide attack in Andijan. However, other sources suggest that there was also an exchange of fire in the Kurgantepe district in the Andijan region. Finally, the most controversial issue is the origin of the attackers, as the Uzbek authorities assume that attackers are members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Local witnesses, however, testify that the attackers spoke a foreign language and had a translator. In combination with these assumptions, the “Islamic Jihad” claim to have organized the incident adds even more confusion to the situation.

As a result of the exchange of fire, the border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan was closed for security reasons. However, other issues seem involved too. The Uzbek authorities stated that the attackers presumably came from Kyrgyzstan – an assumption that was not welcomed by the Kyrgyz side. The head of the Kyrgyz border-guard service, T. Mamytov, said such accusations are unreasonable. Perhaps Uzbekistan made such assumptions because it suspects that the attackers belong to the IMU, and an IMU intrusion into Uzbekistan was carried out from Kyrgyz territory  in 2000. In any case, establishing this fact is important for Uzbek authorities as it would shed light on whether the incident involves a new organization or the revival of old religious extremist groups in the region.

Another issue of concern is the number of victims as a result of the attacks. For instance, official sources suggest that during the exchange of fire on the border post in Khanabad, one member of the police and one of the attackers were shot. Another policeman died as a result of the suicide bombing in Andijan with several civilians injured. However, on May 27, the morgues of Andijan region reported having received sixteen bodies. Thus, it is unclear how many victims the attacks claimed.

Last but not least, a remark circulating in local media is about the “strange” coincidence of the events and places. The infamous ‘Andijan events’ of 2005 took place almost exactly four years ago. Since the events were associated with an uprising of religious extremists, four years later the Andijan region seems to remain the main target of radical forces in Uzbekistan. Another coincidence concerns the seeming thaw in Uzbekistan’s relations with the United States and the possibility of an American airbase on its territory to assist the operations in Afghanistan. Some experts assume that the attacks in Khanabad and Andijan represent attempts of the IMU to block access of anti-terrorist forces to Afghanistan through Uzbekistan.

The variety of opinions and guesses about the executors of the Khanabad and Andijan attacks, their origins and reasons to attack is astonishing. Nevertheless, the credibility of any one of them has not been verified. The scant pieces of information provided by Uzbek officials scarcely cover the scope of the incident. Perhaps the spread of rumors could be stopped by an official reaction of the Uzbek authorities on the incident. Such a reaction is, however, remains to be provided.