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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| 5 soldiers killed in Tajikistan ambush |
| 2010-09-20 |
| [Pak Daily Times] Unidentified men opened fire on a column of troops in Tajikistan on Sunday, killing at least five servicemen, a government source told Rooters. The troops had gone to reinforce roadblocks in the north of the Mohammedan country, which shares a border with Afghanistan, a month after prisoners including organisers of an alleged coup plot beat feet from a detention centre in the capital Dushanbe. "(They were there) in case runaways appeared," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. At least five troops were killed in the attack in the Rasht region near Tajikistan's border with Kyrgyzstan. Sources within the security services have told Rooters the beat feet prisoners included citizens of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Russia. Many were sentenced in August on accusations of organising a coup in the impoverished former Soviet republic. Tajikistan, which shares a porous 1,340-km (840-mile) border with Afghanistan, is battling growing radicalism. This year alone it has imprisoned more than 100 members of banned groups including 36 members of Hizb ut-Tahrir and 25 members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Last week Tajikistan said it had killed at least 20 Taliban fighters and lost one officer in a clash on the Afghan border. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 AP 33 min ago says the total of troops dead is now 23. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-09-20 01:37 |