KHUJAND, August 6, 2012, Asia-Plus — Qohir Rasoulzoda, chairman of Sughd province, and Hussein Mousozod, head of the office of the Council of Ulamo (a group of scholars and imams that provides interpretations of religious practice) in Sughd province, have visited families of officers and soldiers, who died during a military operation in Khorog, the capital of the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) to extend condolences to them.
According to the Sughd administration’s press center, they, in, particular, visited the families of the officer from the State Committee for National Security (SCNS), Major Shuhrat Otaboyev, 32, in the village of Qayerma in the Shahrison district and Warrant Officer Abdumajid Nazarov, 23, in the Ayni district.
Sughd governor and regional mufti also extended condolences to the family of soldier Firdavs Rahimov, 20, in the village of Shing in the Panjakent district.
The clashes began in Khorog on July 24 when government forces launched a military operation against what it called “militants” following the murder of the regional security chief Abdullo Nazarov on July 21.
The authorities have blamed Tolib Ayombekov, a former warlord from the civil war, for the murder of Abdullo Nazarov.
According to some media sources, fighting that occurred in Khorog last week has left at least 17 soldiers, 30 militants, and some 20 civilians dead.
The authorities are still demanding that four people it considers responsible for the assassination be handed over to face justice.
