Islamic State (IS) terror group’s Amaq agency on July 31 released screengrab of a video showing five young Tajiks pledging allegiance to the IS group.
SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks online activity of white supremacist and jihadist organizations, says the video allegedly shows the executors of the attack on foreign tourists in the Danghara district.
EurasiaNet.org says that the video shows Jaffariddin Yusufov and four other suspected co-conspirators declaring their allegiance to the transnational terror group in front of the Islamic State flag and criticizing Tajikistan because it “has been occupied by infidels.”
Although IS extremists claimed responsibility for the July 29 attack, the Tajik authorities, however, blamed followers the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT).
In a statement released on July 31, the Interior Ministry of Tajikistan says that one of the detained perpetrators – Hussein Abdusamadov – was the leader of the hit-and-run plot. He was reportedly an active member of the IRPT and underwent ideological and military-commando training in Iran.
Recall, four foreign cyclists, including two Americans, one Dutchman and a Swiss citizen, were brutally killed during a bike tour in the Danghara district on July 29. They were attacked by at least one assailant with a gun and knife after being run down by a vehicle. Three other foreigners were also injured in the attack.
