Tajikistan blames Islamist militants for ambush

DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Tajikistan said on Monday foreign Islamist militants were responsible for killing at least 23 troops in an ambush near its border with Afghanistan, the latest attack to threaten stability in the Central Asian state.

Defense Ministry spokesman Faridoon Makhmadaliyev said Sunday's "terrorist act" had been carried out by militants linked to former warlords who fought against the government in a civil war in the 1990s.

The attackers opened fire on a column of trucks carrying troops sent to reinforce roadblocks in the north of Tajikistan a month after a jailbreak by prisoners accused of plotting a coup.

"These are mercenaries of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation who, under the guise of the sacred religion of Islam, are attempting to turn Tajikistan into an arena for feudal wars," Makhmadaliyev said.

Tajikistan, a secular but mainly Muslim country of 7.5 million people, shares a porous 1,340-km (840-mile) border with Afghanistan and has this year jailed more than 100 members of banned groups in its battle against growing Islamist radicalism.

The poorest of five former Soviet republics in Central Asia, Tajikistan is viewed with interest by Russia and the United States because of its strategic location on a drug trafficking route out of Afghanistan.

The attack occurred in the Rasht valley district 50 km (30 miles) from Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan and 180 km (110 miles) east of the capital, Dushanbe.

The Defense Ministry said it believed the ambush was carried out by people linked to Abdullo Rakhimov and Allovidin Davlatov, warlords against whom the government fought in the civil war. Reuters could not independently verify these assertions.

Tajikistan has raised security at its borders since 25 prisoners, including Islamist militants accused of organizing a coup plot, escaped from a detention center in Dushanbe on August 23. Only seven, including two Russians, have been recaptured.

TEST FOR THE GOVERNMENT

The attack follows Tajikistan's first known suicide bombing in five years on September 3. Hitherto unknown militant group Jamaat Ansarullah in Tajikistan claimed responsibility for this attack, which killed two officers at a police station.

Last week, Tajikistan said it had killed at least 20 Taliban fighters and lost one officer in a clash on the Afghan border.

"Most people who are radically opposed to the government in Tajikistan, mostly Islamists, feel that this is time to test the government's ability to handle unrest," said Paul Quinn-Judge, the International Crisis Group's Central Asia project director.

"So far, the government is not doing very well."

A high-ranking government source told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, that 10 servicemen had been wounded in the attack in addition to the 23 confirmed dead.

He said the gun battle had ended and armored vehicles and reinforcements had been sent to the region. Defense Minister Sherali Khairulloyev flew by helicopter to the area on Sunday.

Tajik President Imomali Rakhmon left for New York hours before the attack to attend the U.N. General Assembly. A government spokesman said he had no plans to cut short the trip.

Tens of thousands were killed in the 1992-97 civil war between factions reflecting overlapping political, religious and clan loyalties.

Khoji Akbar Turajonzoda, a former deputy leader of the Tajik United Opposition which fought against the government in the civil war, issued a statement condemning the attack.

"Our motherland needs peace and harmony. Let's spare no effort in preserving peace, harmony and unity," said Turajonzoda, who was supreme mufti of Tajikistan between 1988 and 1993 and still retains popularity as a theologian.

(Writing by Robin Paxton; editing by Andrew Dobbie and Mark Heinrich)