Nine Dead, 24 Wounded In Clashes In Restive Tajikistan Region

Dushanbe, Tajikistan, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th May, 2022 ) :Clashes between Tajik security forces and "terrorists" killed nine people and wounded two dozen in a restive region bordering Afghanistan, the interior ministry said.

The ministry said members of "organised criminal groups" armed with weapons and Molotov cocktails attacked security officials in the eastern region of Gorno-Badakhshan which has long been a flashpoint of tensions.

One security officer was killed and 13 were seriously injured in the attack, it said.

The ministry said the attack came during an "anti-terror operation" launched earlier Wednesday after 200 armed people blocked a highway on the border with Afghanistan.

As a result of the operation, eight "militants" were killed, 11 wounded and more than 70 "active members of a terrorist group" were detained, the ministry said.

Tajik authorities claimed in an earlier statement that the militants had received arms and support from international "terrorist organisations" and foreign mercenaries, accusing them of seeking to undermine the country's constitutional order.

In a joint statement, the European Union delegation in Tajikistan and the embassies of Britain, France, Germany and the United States expressed their "deep concern about reported internal tensions and violent clashes" in the region.

They called on "all parties to spare no effort to de-escalate, exercise restraint and refrain from excessive use of force and incitement to violence."