The State Department announced in a press statement on 26 May that it has designated the Islamic Jihad Group (IJG) a terrorist organization. Describing IJG as a splinter group of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the State Department said that IJG members attacked the U.S. and Israeli embassies and the Uzbek Prosecutor-General\'s Office on 30 July 2004. The statement also blamed the IJG for a series of bombings and shootouts in Bukhara and Tashkent in March-April 2004 that claimed 47 lives. The statement noted that \"those arrested in connection with the attacks in Bukhara have testified to the close ties between the IJG leaders and [Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders] Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar.\" (RFE/RL)