Funeral were held for those killed in the explosions

Interior Minister Zakirdzhon Almatov also told Itar-Tass news agency they had identified one of the three suicide bombers, but gave no further details.

The blasts went off near to the Israeli and US embassies and the prosecutor general's offices on Friday.

The death toll rose to three overnight after a police officer died of his injuries, said the prosecutor's office.

The explosions came days after 15 alleged Islamist militants went on trial in the capital of the Central Asian state.

They are accused of involvement in a wave of violence last spring in which at least 47 people were killed.

'One chain'

Police chief Oleg Bichenov told the Associated Press news agency that Friday's attacks were connected to the trial.

"These are links in one chain," he said.

Islamist websites carried competing claims of responsibility for the attacks.

In pictures: Blasts' aftermath

One, the little-known Islamic Jihad Group in Uzbekistan, said the attacks were a protest against injustice and to show support for Palestinian, Iraq and Afghan fighters.

President Islam Karimov cut short his holiday in the Crimea region of Ukraine to return home.

Two local men guarding the Israeli embassy were killed in the blast near the building's entrance.

Seven people were wounded in a blast in the entrance hall of the prosecutor general's office, and two - one of whom later died - in the blast near the US embassy compound.

The three sites have been sealed off and a police presence stepped up around embassies and at crossroads.

But correspondents say life in Tashkent appeared to carry on as normal on Saturday.

Staunch ally

Shop owner Vladimir Neradko told Reuters news agency people were not as angry as they were after the attacks in the spring.

"It is weird but this time the explosions did not affect people much," he said.

The trials of those accused of the violence began on Monday

"You see life goes on as before. May be because there were few dead, or may be because people got used to it."

Uzbekistan has been a staunch ally of the US in its war on terror.

American troops have been based there since soon after the attacks of 11 September 2001, and it acted as a staging post for US forces during the fight to oust the Taleban in neighbouring Afghanistan.

But the Uzbek authorities are widely accused of human rights abuses against opponents of authoritarian President Karimov, who has ruled the country since it ceased to be a Soviet republic.

Earlier this month, Washington withheld aid from Uzbekistan over what it termed "unacceptable" human rights violations.