Islamist radicals are indeed active in the country, especially in the Ferghana Valley the volatile region in which Andizhan is situated.
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2.
The main mosque in Andizhan, in eastern Uzbekistan, was closed by the government in 1995, the same year that its imam, Abduvali Kori Mirzayev, disappeared.
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3.
In fact the unrest, which has been building up for some months, seems to have been triggered by the trials of 23 local businessmen in Andizhan.