DUSHANBE, July 29, 2009 Asia-Plus — Nemat Azizov, the leader of an illegal armed group that was active in Tavildara in recent months, was killed overnight in a clash with government forces near the village of Miyonadu in the Tavildara district, according to the Ministry of Interior (MoI).
The source at a MoI told Asia-Plus today that the remainder of the gang of Nemat Azizov who have been active in eastern Tajikistan in recent months, were discovered and surrounded near the village of Miyonadu in the Tavildara district on the night of July 28-29.
“They offered armed resistance and the ringleader Nemat Azizov was killed in the shootout,” the source said, refraining from giving further details. He just said that operation to search for remaining members of the group was under way.
Nemat Azizov, also known as Sheikh Nemat, 41, resident of the village of Pastirogh Sheikh in the Saghirdasht jamaot of GBAO’s Darvoz district, was a field commander of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) during the civil war in the country in the 1990s and alter signing of the General Peace Agreement in 2007, his group was integrated in the Ministry of Emergency Situations. He had served as commander of one two battalions of the Committee or Emergency Situations deployed in Tavildara. He was wanted by Tajik law enforcement authorities in recent months for alleged manslaughter and drug-related crimes.
