From Haaretz:
Last month security guards at the Israeli embassy in Tashkent killed a suspected suicide bomber approaching the building.
The suspected bomber was an Uzbeki who appeared to be wearing an explosives belt, which later turned out to have been a dummy device, and ignored orders to halt. The incident was believed to have been an attempt to test security alertness at the embassy.

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I thought the guy was a drunk, unemployed ethnic Russian, and shooting him was just a big mistake? Maybe the news reports here about it were wrong. Or maybe they wanted to cover up the fact that a test bomber got so close to the embassy.
A practice run for a suicide bomber? Doesn’t sound like a very efficient training program.
Lyndon is right, all the Russian media, and I think the U.S. Embassy as well reported that the bomber was a Russian, and that in fact he didn’t have anything actually resembling bombs.
I mean, sure, they could be lying to us and all, but I’d be very interestd to see where this other info comes from.
David, I’ve seen both stories. I think that this just kind of went by the wayside after the massacre and no one’s really bothered figuring out what exactly happened.
What I remember hearing was that he was Russian, wearing a fake bomb, and had a history of mental problems. I very well could be wrong.
i distinctly remember reading a story on ORT’s web site that same day that said he was a russian, yes, he had a history of mental problems, i think they added that he was drunk, he was shot because he refused to lie down on the ground when they told him, and there was no fake bomb anywhere, it was a bag full of wood blocks or something like that. something stupid i guess… if you are interested, i imagine it wouldn’t be hard to find the story.
i would be very interested to see the story that says it was an uzbek with a fake bomb belt.