DUSHANBE, October 29, 2010, Asia-Plus — A special operation to hunt down criminals that have committed a number of serious crimes was conducted in the Chorkuh jamoat in the northern district Isfara yesterday night, according to the Ministry of Interior (MoI).
The source at a MoI says at least one criminal was killed in exchange of gunfire while the fate of one or two others is still unknown because the debris of the house from which the criminals were firing were not yet cleared.
According to him, the criminals were involved in killing of Saidumar Saidov, the chief of the criminal investigation squad of the Isfara police directorate in September 2009.
In the meantime, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on October 28 that Tajik officials say at least three militants have been killed during a police raid against what they say is a terrorist group in Tajikistan”s northern Isfara district. Speaking to RFE/RL”s Tajik Service, Nemat Olimov, head of the local administration in the village of Chorkuh, said residents were evacuated before police forces began their October 28 raid against an armed group there. “The militants were firing machine guns and Kalashnikov rifles and were throwing grenades,” Olimov said, adding that several houses in the neighborhood had caught fire. “So far, three bodies of the terrorists have been brought here,” he said. “One of the bodies has already been sent to the town center for identification. We don”t have much clear information yet.”
Olimov said at least one of the armed men surrendered to police, while another managed to escape, and said Isfara police believe at least one of the militants was a Kyrgyz citizen.
The incident in Chorkuh reportedly prompted officials in the neighboring Kyrgyz province of Batken to step up security measures near the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, deploying additional troops there. RFE/RL”s Kyrgyz Service correspondent in the southern Kyrgyz province of Batken said gunfire could be heard from the Tajik side of the border for several hours, and added that there is an increased military and police presence in Batken.
Several policemen were attacked in Isfara last year and at least one high-ranking police officer, Saidumar Saidov, was shot dead outside his home in Isfara district center in September, 2009, RFE/RL reported. The attacks were blamed on religious extremist groups.
