Attack on troops in eastern Tajikistan aims to unsettle situation.

20/9 Tass 78

DUSHANBE, September 20 (Itar-Tass) - Twenty-three servicemen died in
gunmen's attack on a convoy of trucks of the Tajik Defence Ministry. More
than a dozen troops have been wounded in the shelling launched in the
highland Kamarob Gorge in the Rashtsky district (some 260 kilometers east
of Dushanbe) on Sunday afternoon, Defence Ministry spokesman Faridun
Makhmadaliyev told Itar-Tass on Monday.
According to the spokesman, illegal paramilitary formations led by the
field commanders of the irreconcilable Tajik Opposition Abdullo Rakhimov
and Alavudin Davlatov, were involved in the attack.
"There are quite a few foreign mercenaries in the gang led by these
Opposition members, including mercenaries from Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Russia's North Caucasus. The purpose of the attack is to provoke an
outbreak of violence in the east of the republic, involve the military in
the conflict and unsettle the situation in the region where tensions have
been running high as it is," Makhmadaliyev said.
A representative of Tajik secret services told Itar-Tass he regarded
the attack on the convoy of trucks as a terrorist attack.
Independent observers said the eastern region of Tajikistan, during
the Civil War, was the stronghold of the Opposition and has remained the
main source of instability since.
Last year, the troops loyal to the Tajik leader, defeated a
large-anti-government group led by former General and former Minister of
Emergency Situations Mirzo Ziyeyev. During the Civil War, he led units of
armed Islamic Opposition in the east of the country.
A number of militants were killed, and others were captured and
prosecuted. Overnight to August 23, they escaped from a remand prison in
Dushanbe, vaunted as the tightest security facility.
The defeat of the mutinous General in the summer of 2009 has not made
the situation in the region any calmer.
The former Opposition commanders, who now engage in business - Shokh
Iskandarov and Mirzokhudzha Akhmadov - saw a treat to their safety in the
sending of large army forces to the region, which official reports said
had been enlisted to catch the escapees after the prison break.
The situation became so tense that last week, President Emomali
Rakhmon sent the leadership of all law-enforcement bodies to the Rashtsky
district for talks with the former field commanders. Sources told
Itar-Tass the talks had lasted for several hours behind closed doors, but
that none of the parties had been satisfied with the outcome.
At present, the Tajik government has sent reinforcements to the
region. It beefed up the checkpoints on the approaches to the eastern
region of the republic. Special task force units are combing the highland
area in the search of the gunmen who attacked the military convoy.
Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, who is on a visit to New York,
demanded that the law-enforcement bodies find and punish the criminals,
restore order and security in the whole eastern region. He expressed
condolences to the families of the dead soldiers and officers and ordered
to provide financial assistance to them.
-0-myz/usn


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