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August 7, 2006
Tajikistan: Islamist Blows Himself Up - Kills Policeman
90% of Tajikistan's population is Muslim. The nation has a secular constitution, and on October 19, the hijab or Muslim headscarf was banned from Tajik schools. The nation was invaded by Russia during the 1860s and 1870s, but still struggled against Russian influence. From 1925, when Tajikistan accepted Bolshevik rule, to 1991 when it gained independence, the country was part of the Soviet Empire.
Today, Interfax-Religion reports from Dushanbe, the capital, that in the north of the country, a suspected Islamist was about to be arrested by police officers, but decided to go out with a bang. He detonated a hand grenade, killing himself and one of the officers. Two other policemen were injured in the blast.
The man was suspected of being a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Several members of this Islamist terror group have been arrested in the north of the country this year.
We reported on July 18 that ten members of the group were detained in the city of Khujand [near the border with Uzbekistan] on July 14-15.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was founded in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 1998, with the intention of forming an Islamist state in Uzbekistan. It is led by Tahir Yuldosh, who gained permission in May 1999 from Afghanistan's Taliban to establish a base in the north of that country, where he is still thought to reside. A senior figure in the group, Juma Namangani, was made a "deputy" of Osama bin Laden in 2001. He trains militants in northern Afghanistan.
The group has an estimated 700 members, and in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, they carried out a series of five car bombings in February 1999. It has also taken foreigners as hostages. It is classed as a specially designated terrorist entity by the US Treasury and State Department.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 7, 2006 4:31 PM
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