About twenty people have been detained over a deadly attack on a border post that took place in the Roudaki district in early November, Tajik chief prosecutor Yusuf Rahmon told reporters in Dushanbe on January 28.
“Among those detained there are persons, who participated directly in the attack, and persons, who provided assistance to the terrorists,” Tajik chief prosecutor said, noting the criminal proceedings over that incident will move to a court soon.
Yusuf Rahmon refrained from giving further details recalling the secret of the investigation.
Recall, the attack on the “Ishqobod” border post, which is located near the Tajik-Uzbek border in the Roudaki district, about 60 kilometers southwest of Dushanbe, occurred in the early morning of November t6, 2019.
Tajik officials said after the attack that 20 militants of Islamic State (IS) terror group entered Tajikistan from neighboring Afghanistan and attacked the border post, of whom 15 were killed and five were captured.
The officials also said that a police officer and five border guards were killed in the clashes.
The Islamic State or Daesh terror group on November 8 claimed responsibility for the border post attack, noting that the IS militants had killed 10 Tajik border guards.
Meanwhile, citing sources close to the investigation, RFE/RL reported on November 12 that one of persons who attacked the border post had previously served as a soldier in the area where the deadly assault took place.
The suspected attackers allegedly planned to seize weapons at the remote, unremarkable border post in the Sultonobod area in the Roudaki district to potentially stage assaults on more prominent targets elsewhere.
The militants reportedly recruited three women — identified as Rahbar Boqiyeva, Malohat Haidarova, and Zulkhumor Jumayeva — to take part in the raid because they would rouse less suspicion and be used to distract the soldiers before the attack.
Shortly before the assault, Boqiyeva allegedly approached the checkpoint pretending to have lost her way and asked the border guard on duty for directions.
When the unsuspecting watch tower guard came down, Boqiyeva reportedly stabbed him with a knife, the sources said. RFE/RL cannot independently confirm the claim.
The attackers spent several hours before the assault in the nearby villages of Lailikuya and Qizilnishon, before driving to the border posts in four vehicles, the sources said.
