The State Committee for National Security (SCNS) of Tajikistan has denied information about the arrest of a group of Islamists who allegedly planned to commit a terrorist act at the Russian military base in Dushanbe as absolutely baseless.
Some Tajik and regional media outlets reported on November 12 that 12 supporters of the Islamic State (IS) terror group were arrested on November 4 for an attempt to blow up the commandant's office of the Russian military base in Dushanbe.
“We officially deny the information that a group of Islamists were detained for an attempt to commit a terrorist act at the Russian military base in Dushanbe. We did not arrest anybody and no terrorist act was being planned,” Dilshod Abdualimov, a chief spokesman for the SCNS, told Asia-Plus by phone.
A representative of the Russian military base also says that servicemen serve as usual and permit regime has not been tightened. “We did no hear about planning of any terrorist act at the base,” he added.
The Russian military base deployed in Tajikistan is Russia's largest non-naval military facility outside the country. It was officially opened in Tajikistan in 2004 under a previous agreement, which was signed in 1993, and hosts Russia’s largest military contingent deployed abroad.
A total of some 7,000 Russian troops are now stationed at two military facilities collectively known as the 201st military base – in Dushanbe and Bokhtar (formerly Qurghon Teppa, some 100 kilometers from Dushanbe.
