DUSHANBE, November 23, 2014, Asia-Plus – Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports that the deputy chairman of Tajikistan”s State Committee for National Security (SCNS), Akram Amonov, says some 300 Tajik nationals are fighting alongside militants in Syria including the Islamic State group.
Amonov told Tajik lawmakers on November 21 that Tajik citizens usually go to Syria via Russia and Afghanistan.
According to Amonov, an office which has been recruiting militants for Syria is located on Moscow”s Prospect Mira (Peace Avenue).
Meanwhile, the deputy chairman of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims in Russia”s European Regions, Damir Mukhetdinov, said that Moscow mosques are not being used to recruit Tajiks to fight in Syria.
But he told RFE/RL though that labor migrants from Central Asia can be easily targeted by recruiters in Moscow.
Tajik authorities said earlier that up to 200 Tajik citizens were fighting in Syria. Some 50 Tajik nationals are believed to have been killed there.
