© www.rferl.orgMajor General Abdulkharim Nazarzod, a deputy defense minister and former commander of the Islamic opposition, has been accused of being the ringleader of the September attacks.
Comment: The first attack was just east of the capital in Vahdat. The second attack was near the airport in the country's capital, Dushanbe. Law enforcement officers had killed two of the attackers, at least one a state security official, and wounded three others, six were detained and Maj. Gen. Nazarzod was reportedly on the run.
Maj. Gen. Abdulkharim Mirzo Nazarzod, the official in question was a commander in the former Islamist rebellion during the 1990s civil war, and his political party, the Islamic Renaissance Party, was banned just last week by the government.
10 people were confirmed killed in today's fighting, including 8 policeman and 2 fighters from Nazarzod's faction. Other reports were that Nazarnod's forces had killed dozens of troops, though there has been no confirmation on that.
Nazarzod is the second major loss to the government's military establishment in recent months, after Gulmurod Khalimov, the leader of the special forces, joined ISIS in May. Though there is no sign that Nazarzod joined any existing Islamist group, his historical ties to the old rebellion suggests today's incidents may be a prelude to another major Islamist rebellion in central Asia.
Comment: Khalimov had been trained by Russia's spetsnaz forces in the early post-Soviet era during the Tajik Civil War, and trained with US special forces in the United States more recently during the attempt to build up anti-Islamist forces in central Asia. He had mysteriously gone missing earlier in the month but was said to have left a video pledging jihad against Russia and the US. Tajikistan is believed to have 200-500 citizens fighting for ISIS.
Comment: Why are high-up Tajikistan officials and military joining ISIS? Or are they?
Although it wasn't immediately clear whether the attacks were linked, the Tajik government was quick to pin the violence on the now-deposed deputy defense minister, Major General Abdulkhalim Mirzo Nazarzod. Immediately after news of the violence surfaced, a statement on President Imomali Rahmon website said that Nazarzod had been relieved of his position for "crimes committed," without any elaboration. According to the Tajik office of Radio Free Europe, Nazarzod was an Islamic opposition commander and joined the security forces following the civil war that severed the predominantly Muslim country from 1992 to 1997. Statements from long-time associates state that Nazazod was not a religious extremist and cast Friday's violence as proof of growing public discontent. "If he had been a fanatic, Rahmon would have never made him deputy defense minister." Something smells fishy.
Tajikistan is an impoverished Muslim nation of about 8M and the poorest ex-Soviet state.
The attacks were described by the Renaissance Party as "internal problems of the law enforcement agencies." The Interior Ministry update stated there was an "operation [underway] to apprehend and neutralize" Nazarzod. There was no comment on the weapons, ammunition and vehicles seized.