DUSHANBE, October 20, 2010, Asia-Plus — More than 30 militants that have gone over to government troops are providing assistance in hunting down armed insurgents, Minister of Interiors Abdurahim Qahhorov announced at a new conference in Dushanbe today.
“In all, twelve insurgents have been killed during a special operation carried out in Rahst district,” said the minister, “Nine of them have already been identified. The majority of them are foreign mercenaries. One of them was identified as a Russian national Ramil Safiullin.”
Asked whether militants who laid down their weapons voluntarily will be persecuted, Qahhorov noted that irrefragable answer could be given only on completion of investigation. “An investigation team that is currently working is Rasht will determine the extent of guilt of each of members of these groups,” Qahhorov said, stressing that criminal proceedings were instituted to investigate into a September 19 attack on a military convoy in Kamarob Gorge.
According to him, investigation has established that Abdullo Rahimov (Mullo Abdullo) and Alovuddin Davlatov (Ali Bedaki) were involved in the September 19 ambush.
“The antiterrorist operation is going in Rasht,” the minister said.
We will recall that Tajik government forces launched a large-scale operation to apprehend former opposition fighters in Rasht on October 22 following an ambush in Kamarob Gorge on September 19, in which at least 26 servicemen were killed and 14 others were wounded.
