DUSHANBE, July 22, 2009, Asia-Plus — Speaking to reporters in Dushanbe on July 22, the Minister of Interiors Abdurahim Qahhorov said that the current situation in the Tavildara district and nearby areas.
According to him, the operation to search for the remaining members of the armed group that had been active there in recent months is under way. “The group was practically broken up and not more than three or four militants have still remained there,” the minister said.
“Law enforcement authorities have instituted criminal proceedings to investigate into armed attacks in Tavildara on charges of banditry, illegal border crossing, and setting up armed group,” Qahhorov said.
He noted that five Russian nationals that were killed in a shootout in the Havzi Kaboud (Blue Lake) area in Tavildara on July 16 arrived in Dushanbe from St. Petersburg in April this month. “Their belonging to any political party or movement will be established n completion of investigation,” Qahhorov said.
We will recall that In a joint statement released on July 18, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) read out names of the gunmen that were killed in the Havzi Kaboud area in the Tavildara district on July 16.
According to the statement, all those killed had Russian passports: Shamil Magomedov (1988), resident of the city of Novocherkask in Russia’s Rostov region; Akhmed Abbasov (1984), resident of Russia’s Dagestan Autonomous Republic; Aleksey Babin (1989), resident of the city of Nizhnevartovsk in Russia’s Tyumen region, Roman Khan (1984), ethnic Kazakh from St. Petersburg; and Renat Sabdyushev (1983), resident of the city of Stary Oskol, Russia.”
Investigation has established that the killed gunmen were members of one organized terrorist group, the statement said, noting that nine gunmen have been killed since the beginning of the operation and operation to search for other members of this gang is under way.
