Tajik authorities hunt ex-warlord on suspicion of involvement in killing of 25 soldiers
By APWednesday, September 22, 2010
Tajik authorities hunt ex-warlord in killings
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan — Authorities in Tajikistan have launched a manhunt for a former opposition warlord that they suspect of masterminding last weekend’s attack on a military convoy that claimed 25 lives.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said five men were killed during a raid Wednesday on the home of Mirzokhodzha Akhmadov outside the remote northern town of Garm.
Ministry spokesman Makhmadullo Asadulloyev said Akhmadov had fled into the mountains in eastern Tajikistan.
Akhmadov was an opposition warlord during Tajikistan’s 1992-1997 civil war, which pitted Islamic fighters and nationalists against former Soviet functionaries. About 100,000 people died.
Recent violence and terror attacks have aroused fears of a new outbreak of conflict in the country.
