TASHKENT, November 10 - The Uzbek National Security Service has described as provocative opposition journalist Alexei Volosevich`s claims that special services were involved in an attack on him. Volosevich, a correspondent from the Ferghana.ru Internet publication, said unidentified ruffians beat him near an apartment block where he lives in Tashkent on November 9. He said the attackers also spilled paint on him and wrote abusive and anti-Semitic slogans on the wall of his apartment building. Following the attack, Ferghana.ru posted a statement claiming the journalist is "confident that the provocation was organized by Uzbek special services to intimidate him and force him to give up his professional activities." Volosevich himself believes the attack was prompted by his reports about the May rioting in Andizhan, Ferghana.ru said. Uzbek National Security Service spokesman Olimzhon Turakulov told Interfax: "The special services, whose jurisdiction includes the investigation into manifestations of anti-Semitism, could not have allowed such an attack. Therefore, these absurd statements can be viewed as obvious provocation." Turakulov suggested that Volosevich might have staged the attack himself. "It is known that he is striving to earn the halo of a martyr persecuted by the authorities and to emigrate to a Western country as a political refugee," he said. The Yunusabad district police office in Tashkent said an investigation has been launched into Volosevich`s report. If the circumstances of the attack are confirmed, those responsible will be held criminally and administratively liable, operative Nodir Bekmirzayev told Interfax.