DUSHANBE, September 20, 2010, Asia-Plus — President Emomali Rahmon, who is currently in New York to attend the 65th session of the UN General Assembly, yesterday extended condolences to families and friends of 23 soldiers killed in a terrorist attack in Rasht district Sunday afternoon.
According to presidential press service, the head of state ordered the Ministry of Interior, the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) and the Ministry of Defense to find and punish masterminds and executors of that crime.
The country’s law enforcement authorities are taking measures to provide stability in society and security of citizens, the source said.
A statement released by the Ministry of Defense yesterday evening says a military convoy was ambushed in the Kamarob Gorge in Rasht district, some 250 kilometers east of Dushanbe, on September 19, at 12:30 pm. 23 soldiers were killed and several others were wounded.
The soldiers were reportedly going to replace guards at roadblocks set up in the area after an August 23 jailbreak.
The Ministry of Defense considers that the attack was committed by the armed group of Mullo Abdullo (Abdullo Rahimov).
We will recall that former opposition commander Mullo Abdullo was continuing fighting against government forces after signing of the General Peace Agreement in June 1997. A Tajik court found Mullo Abdullo and his fighters responsible for the murder of six UN military monitors in eastern Tajikistan in 1998. Mullo Abdullo had gone to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban in 2000 but was believed to have been captured and jailed. He reportedly returned to Tavildara district, eastern Tajikistan with some 100 fighters in May 2009.
Military authorities also stated that the armed group of the former opposition commander Aluvuddin Davlatov, known as Ali Bedak, had also been involved in the Sunday attack.
Aluvuddin Davlatov is the brother of Husnuddin Davlatov, the activist of the Islamic Revival Party (IRP) and one of two IRP members in the Rasht district legislature. Husnuddin Davlatov was reportedly arrested by special services in Dushanbe last week.
In the meantime, a source at one of the country’s power wielding structures has told Asia-Plus that at least 40 servicemen of the Ministry of Defense, including five officers, were killed and more than ten others were wounded in the September 19 attack in Rasht.
