3 Tajik troops wounded, 8 militants killed in govt operation in Tajikistan.

DUSHANBE, September 24 (Itar-Tass) -- Three Tajik elite police
officers have been wounded, and at least eight militants have been killed
in a government operation against Islamic militants in Tajikistan's
eastern regions, an informed source told Itar-Tass on Friday.
According to the source, the operation targets to trace militants'
hiding places in the mountainous areas and remote villages. Police are
searching for opposition warlords and field commanders Abdullo Rakhimov,
Mirzokhudzha Akhmadov, Alovuddin Davlatov who are believed to be behind
the September 19 attack on the government military convoy, the deadliest
attack on security forces since the civic war of 1992-1997. The military
convoy was attacked near Rasht district, an area about 80 kilometers north
of the Afghan border. The attackers, which included militants from
Afghanistan, Pakistan and Russia's volatile southern region of Chechnya,
were led by Abdullo Rakhimov, known as Mullo Abdullo, a radical Islamic
commander who took an active part in the civil war. Two other warlords,
Alovuddin Davlatov and Mirzokhudzha Akhmadov, are also suspected to have
taken part in the attack. According to latest reports, the attack claimed
the lives of 28 government servicemen, including 5 officers. A total of 15
troops were wounded, although local media report more casualties.
On Wednesday, the country's government forces launched a large-scale
operation to neutralize anti-government groups in the Rasht district.
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