DUSHANBE, February 4, Asia-Plus — Tajik OMON (Special Purpose Police Squad) commander, Colonel Oleg Zakharchenko was killed and four OMON servicemen were seriously injured in the settlement of Gharm, administrative center of the Rasht district, some 220 kilometers east of Dushanbe., on February 2 under uncertain circumstances.
According to law enforcement agencies, Colonel Zakharchenko heading a group of OMON servicemen arrived in Gharm to make preparations for holding a meeting of local police department to hear reports.
Mirzokhouja Ahmadov, the chief of the directorate for combating organized crime for Rasht Valley (a number of districts in eastern Tajikistan) , who is one of former commanders of the United Tajik Opposition integrated into the government law enforcement agencies, thought they had come to arrest him and opened fire at them. As a result Zakharchenko was killed and four OMON servicemen were seriously injured.
In the meantime, some sources at the law enforcement agencies said that Colonel Zakharchenko heading a group of OMON servicemen on two KAMAZ (heavy truck) had arrived in Gharm to arrest Mirzokhouja Ahmadov. As a result of skirmish between OMON servicemen and Ahmadov’s supporters, Zakharchenko was killed and four OMON servicemen were injured. The injured OMON servicemen were taken to a hospital in Dushanbe. Ahmadov and his supporters hid in the mountains.
An investigation group is currently working in Gharm.
