DUSHANBE, June 25, 2014, Asia-Plus – Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports that Tajik authorities say they have arrested two suspected members of the Pakistani Taliban during a police search operation.
The Interior Ministry on June 24 identified the two men as Umarali Toshpulotov and Komiljon Kulbashev, both residents of Tajikistan”s southern Khatlon Province.
The ministry said the men had joined the militant group after allegedly undergoing “special religious training” in Pakistan.
The ministry said the men have admitted fighting against NATO-led international troops in Afghanistan alongside the Taliban.
Tajik authorities have repeatedly expressed concerns about what they describe as the threat from Tajik citizens studying in underground religious schools in Pakistan.
We will recall that Afghan media reported in early June that police in the northern province of Kunduz have detained two Taliban fighters from neighboring Tajikistan.
A Kunduz police official, Said Sarwar Hussaini, told RFE/RL on June 9 that the two men, who were identified only as Komil and Umar, had been captured overnight by local security forces.
According to Hussaini, the two confessed to being ethnic Uzbeks from Tajikistan who had arrived in Afghanistan from Russia.
A third Taliban fighter, who had accompanied the two Uzbeks, was from Pakistan. He blew himself up after refusing to surrender.
