Tajikistan: Militant Group behind Deadly Clashes Destroyed

Local Editor

Tajikistan said Wednesday that it had eliminated a group of extremist insurgents behind recent deadly street battles in the volatile ex-Soviet state.

The interior ministry of the impoverished country bordering Afghanistan said it had eliminated a militant group led by a former deputy defense minister, Abduhalim Nazarzoda.

"The terrorist group headed by ex-deputy defense minister Abduhalim Nazarzoda has been liquidated in the course of a joint operation of government troops," an interior ministry source told AFP.

He added that "Abduhalim Nazarzoda is also among the dead."

The militants clashed with police in the capital Dushanbe and a nearby town in street battles earlier this month, killing nine police and wounding 10.

Furthermore, Tajikistan launched an air and ground operation against the militants, accusing them of attempting to overthrow the government.

It said earlier Wednesday that the insurgents had killed four troops including a Special Forces commander in a shootout.

The militants were sheltering in the mountainous Ramit Valley around 60 kilometers [35 miles] east of Dushanbe.

Nazarzoda served as deputy defense minister until his dismissal this month. He has been charged with treason, terrorism, sabotage and creating an extremist group.

Moreover, Nazarzoda fought with the extremist opposition against the secular government during a five-year civil war that ended in 1997 with a deal that saw former rebels integrated into the defense ministry.

Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon promised that perpetrators of armed attacks would be "deservedly punished".

Tajikistan Tuesday hosted a summit of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, a regional security organization.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the summit that Tajikistan was facing "attempts to destabilize the situation" and pledged Russia's assistance if needed.

The latest violence comes amid growing tensions in the majority-Muslim but secular country of eight million over the role of Islam in public life.

Tajikistan's highly authoritarian government last month effectively banned the country's largest opposition party, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan.

The government accused the opposition bloc made of ties with "ISIL".

The authorities said that Nazarzoda was a member of the Islamic Renaissance party, although the party denied this.

Tajikistan's security structures say up to 600 of its citizens are fighting alongside "ISIL" in Iraq and Syria.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team