Suicide carbomb hits Tajik police office, killing 1, wounding 25

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan - A suicide car bomb blast tore through police offices in Tajikistan's second-largest city Friday, killing one policeman and injuring 25 people, local officials said.

Tajikistan's Deputy Interior Minister Sharif Nazarov told The Associated Press that a car filled with explosives hit the offices of the police organized-crime division in Khujand at 8 a.m. Friday.

Ministry chief staff Takhir Normatov said one policeman was killed. The shattered ruins of the car had the remains of at least two people inside it, he said.

The car drove into the compound's gates as another vehicle was leaving, officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. But local news reports said suspicion was falling on the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a group with al-Qaida ties that seeks to establish an Islamic state in ex-Soviet Central Asia.

Tajikistan in impoverished and plagued by crime. The country borders northern Afghanistan, and is one of the main conduits for smuggled Afghan opium and heroin.