At least 19 people have been killed and 26 others injured in a series of blasts and attacks in Uzbekistan. Prosecutor General Rashid Kadyrov said suicide bombers killed three policemen and a child in an attack at a bazaar in the capital, Tashkent. There were also three fatal shootings of policemen in Tashkent, and a blast at the home of an alleged extremist in Bukhara, that killed 10 people. Uzbekistan\'s president linked foreign extremists to the attacks. In a televised address to the nation, President Islam Karimov stressed his view that whoever was responsible must have connections with a foreign organisation. Officials said two of the blasts - in Tashkent\'s crowded Chorsu bazaar were carried out by women suicide bombers operating for the first time in Central Asia. \"These were terrorist acts,\" Mr Kadyrov told reporters at a news conference in Tashkent, blaming religious extremists. \"There is reason to believe they were prepared over a long period and co-ordinated from a centre, possibly abroad,\" he said. Foreign Minister Sadyk Safayev said the attacks were aimed at undermining the US-led coalition against terrorism, in which Uzbekistan has been a staunch ally of Washington. Police said they had found radical Muslim literature among explosives at one of the crime scenes, however no-one has so far claimed the responsibility for the attacks. The alternative view is that Uzbek militants are adopting a new way of striking at old targets - in this case the police. The police - who wield great power in Uzbekistan - are widely seen as instruments of the state rather than defenders of the law. The bombs at the Chorsu bazaar exploded at about 0900. One of the female suicide bombers blew herself at a nearby police rally ground, while the other set off the bomb at a bus stop. In separate incidents late on Sunday and early on Monday, three police officers were killed in shootouts with gunmen in and around the capital. (BBC)