DUSHANBE, July 27, 2012, Asia-Plus – Asia-Plus’s correspondent reports from the city of Khorog that the numbers of government forces has increased in the city. According to some sources, several other vehicles with special unit servicemen on board have arrived in Khorog and the second attack, it is takes place, will be more large-scale.
Local activists are continuing to conduct negotiations with the authorities and the militants in an effort to prevent the possible second attack. The ongoing demonstrations in Khorog are also deterrent for the beginning of the attack.
Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service says that according to reports from eastern Tajikistan, the government and armed fighters are close to reaching an agreement to hostilities that broke out earlier this week leaving some 70 people dead.
The fighters reportedly have agreed to disarm but talks continue on handing over four people the Tajik government holds responsible for the killing of a security official in the Gorno-Badakhshan region on July 21.
Communications with the region remain tenuous. Tajik officials in Dushanbe say phone lines connecting the Tajik capital to Khorog, the regional capital some 520 kilometers to the southeast, were damaged in fighting on July 24.
The Tajik government says 12 soldiers, 30 people described as “militants,” and some 30 civilians were killed in fighting in the Khorog area this week, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service said.
