Tajikistan: Four dead in tourist attacks

Four people were killed and two others wounded in an attack on tourists in Tajikistan. A car was run Sunday on a highway in the group with strangers, a cyclist was also injured with knife wounds, said the Interior Ministry of the former Soviet Republic.

The attackers had "knives and guns", Interior Minister Ramason Hamro Rahimsoda said in the capital Dushanbe.

The result is two American cyclists, one Swiss and one Dutch.

The context of the attack is still not clear. Until now, the Interior Ministry has ruled out the suspicion of terrorism, reports the German news agency. The AFP news agency reports, however, that the police do not exclude an act of terrorism.

"We are investigating in all directions"

In a later special police operation, a suspect was arrested on Sunday, two others resisted and were killed, Rahimsoda said. Three other suspects were still on the run. "We are looking in all directions," he said. "We can not say if it's a terrorist act."

One of the two victims was injured by a knife wound, said the Minister of the Interior. The condition of the victim is stable. A seventh member of the cycling group, a Frenchman, remained unscathed and was questioned by the police.

In the beginning, the authorities of the Central Asian country had badumed a traffic accident with a leak of the driver. The attack took place in the Danghara district, 150 kilometers south of the capital Dushanbe, on the Pamir Road, very popular with cyclists.

The poorest of the former Soviet republics

Tajikistan is the poorest of the former Soviet republics and is headed by President Emomali Rakhmon since 1992. The majority of the population is Muslim. The authorities are suppressing religious fundamentalism.

In 2015, Tajikistan made speeches with radical measures such as barracks and restrictions on the pilgrimage to Mecca.

The impoverished mountainous country, like its neighbors, fights against gangs, drug trafficking and extremism. In Central Asia, it is estimated that the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia has up to 10,000 followers.