DUSHANBE, March 12, 2015, Asia-Plus — Tajik police say they have detained a 25-year-old woman who was allegedly planning to take a bus from Turkey to Syria to join Islamic State militants, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports.
Tajikistan”s Interior Ministry said on March 10 that Shahnoza Bozorzoda, a medical student, was detained in Istanbul by Tajik authorities after she called a friend in Dushanbe to tell him about her intention to join the extremist group.
It is unclear when Bozorzoda was detained and returned home, but state television broadcast a report on March 10 that showed her acknowledging that she had traveled to Turkey and had been in contact for months with a Tajik man alleged to be fighting in Syria.
Authorities say Bozorzoda was “radicalized” by the alleged fighter through social networking sites and Viber mobile-phone messages.
The television channel also aired comments from relatives, friends, and classmates who spoke about what they described as changes in Bozorzoda”s behavior in recent months.
