DUSHANBE, September 29, 2010, Asia-Plus — Two supporters of former United Tajik Opposition (UTO) field commander Mirzokhouja Ahmadov have been captured during the ongoing special operation launched by the government forces in Rasht district on September 22 to hunt down persons involved in a September 19 attack on a military convoy in Kamarob Gorge in the district.
The source at one power-wielding structures of country told Asia-Plus Wednesday afternoon that two supporters of Mirzokhouja Ahmadov were detained in the village of Jafr on September 28.
Tajik law enforcement authorities have given details of only one of them. He is the 54-year-old resident of the village of Jafr Sherali Mirzoyev and he has been wanted by police on suspicion of murder and involvement in illegal armed group of Mirzokhouja Ahmadov. “They are detained and investigation is under way,” the source said.
We will recall that defense ministry’s convoy came under grenade attack in Kamarob Gorge in Rasht district on September 19, at around 12:20 pm. Tajik authorities have blamed former UTO field commanders Mirzokhouja Ahmadov (Belgi), Abdullo Rahimov (Mullo Abdullo) and Alovuddin Davlatov (Ali Bedak) for an ambush that killed at least 26 government forces. Tajik officials also say that Mirzokhouja Ahmadov and Alovuddin Davlatov have been running terrorist and religious training camps for teenagers and young men in Rasht.
On September 22, five militants loyal to Mirzokhouja Ahmadov were killed in the Belgi village. The fate of Mirzokhouja Ahmadov himself is unknown.
Ahmadov is a native of Rasht. He was a member of the UTO during the country”s civil war in the mid-1990s but was later appointed to a senior police post as part of a broader attempt at reintegrating former rebel leaders. Ahmadov who served after the Tajik civil war ended in 1997 as the chief of a regional department empowered to combat organized crime in Rasht Valley until he was sent to early retirement in 2008.
