Hussein Abdusamadov, the alleged ringleader behind the July's deadly attack on foreign cyclists in the Danghara district, says they acted upon instructions from the banned Islamic Renascence Party of Tajikistan (IRPT).
He was shown in a TV report “Girdob” prepared by the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) and broadcast on Tajik national TV channel yesterday.
Abdusamadov said that he had received instruction to attack foreign tourists from Nosirkhouja Ubaidov, also known as Qori Nosir, who was reportedly an active member of the IRPT.
According to Abdusamadov, he studied in Iran under assistance of Qori Nosir and was working over Asliddin Yusupov and other young people in Moscow upon the instruction from Qori Nosir.
He said they had been engaged in thefts and robberies.
Abdusamadov also said that he had been fighting in Syria.
On the video showing the attackers pledging allegiance to the Islam State (IS) terror group, Abdusamadov said they had shot the video showing them in front of the IS black flag in order to disguise the IRPT’s responsibility for that deadly attack.
In the brutal July 29 attack on the foreigners, a car rammed into the group of cyclists before multiple attackers emerged from the vehicle and stabbed survivors, killing two Americans, a Swiss, and a Dutch national. Three other foreigners were injured in the attack before the assailants sped off.
The Tajik government has accused the banned IRPT of being behind the attack.
The IRPT leadership called the allegation “baseless and irrational.”
The Iranian government has summoned the Tajik ambassador to Iran to protest allegations linking Iran to an attack that killed four foreign cyclists in Tajikistan.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it summoned Tajik Ambassador to Iran, Nematullo Emomzoda, on August 1 to convey Iran's "strong" protest over "false and unfounded" claims made by the Tajik government.
Iranian officials told the Tajik ambassador that showing “indifference” to and “tolerance” of Sunni extremists would undermine peace, stability, and security in the region, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said on August 1.
