The Tajik authorities reported that the leaders of the criminal groups in the city of Khorog Khursand Mazorov and Zoir Rajabov have been killed in Gorno-Badakhshan Region, which became the latest in a series of detentions and murders in the unsecure eastern region of the country following recent anti-government protests, the Khovar State News Agency state reported.
The officials report that the criminal leaders were killed during a “special operation”. Radjabov and Mazorov were associates of a former field commander Imomnazar Imomnazarov who fought against government forces in the 1990s civil war. When being detained, the criminals offered armed resistance to the security officers with F-1 grenades and Kalashnikov assault rifles.
On Saturday, June 11, the Tajik authorities said three influential people in the region, accused of murders and illicit drug and firearms trafficking and other serious crimes had been arrested. The Tajik authorities have carried out a series of arrests and trials following anti-government protests in mid-May.
Gorno-Badakhshan, a linguistically and ethnically isolated region, was home to the rebels who fought against government forces during the conflict in the 1990s.
