The Supreme Court of Tajikistan has completed consideration of criminal proceedings instituted over the attack on a frontier post on the Tajik-Uzbek border in the Roudaki district that took place last fall.
“The attackers have been sentenced to varying terms in prison. That is all the information we can provide to media outlets,” representative of the Supreme Court press center told Asia-Plus Friday afternoon.
He refrained from giving further details. The press center even did not specify the number of the convicted.
Recall, Supreme Court head Shermuhamamd Shohiyon told reporters in Dushanbe on February that the Supreme Court is considering criminal proceedings instituted against nine persons participating in the attack on the “Ishqobod” frontier post.
A statement, released by the Interior Ministry on November 6, 2019, says an armed group numbering twenty people in masks attacked the “Ishqobod” frontier post of the “Sultonobod” border unit on the border with Uzbekistan in Roudaki district, some 60 kilometers southwest of Dushanbe, at 3:23 am of November 6.
During the attack, the unidentified assailants reportedly captured five Kalashnikov assault rifles, according to a statement released by the State Committee for National Security (SCNS). A border guard and a police officer were reportedly killed in the fighting.
The national news agency Khovar said the attackers came from Qalai Zol district of Afghanistan’s Kunduz province, crossing the border in Qubodiyon district of Khatlon province on November 3.
As a result of an operation carried out by Tajik power-wielding structures, fifteen attackers were killed, while the remaining five attackers were captured, the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) said on November 7. According to unconfirmed reports, at least one of the assailants was a woman.
The Interior Ministry reported that four vehicles of the attack group were also destroyed.
The SCNS Main Border Guard Directorate press center said the assailants were members of the Islamic State (IS) terror group.
An online statement issued by the IS terror group on November 8 reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the IS militants had killed 10 Tajik border guards.
SCNS had previously said that police officer Bahrom Qosimzoda and border guard Izatullo Latifiov were killed in the attack.
Meanwhile, sources in Dushanbe and sources in other parts of Tajikistan told RFE/RL on November 8 that at least five more border guards were killed in the attack.
The sources reportedly said Dilovar Tolibov, Hofiz Hasanov, Naimjon Saidolimov, Ghanijon Davlat, and an unidentified border guard were buried on November 7.
The incident took place on Tajikistan's Constitution Day, a national holiday, and as President Emomali Rahmon was on a working trip to Europe until November 12.
