Four foreign tourists killed in attack in Tajikistan

Dushanbe, Tajikistan – Four US, Swiss and Dutch tourists were killed and two others wounded in Tajikistan after being struck by a car and attacked by gunmen, Central Asian authorities said Monday. .
  

The attack occurred Sunday in the Danghara region, 150 kilometers south of the capital Dushanbe. A group of seven foreign cyclotourists, including a Frenchman, was run over by a car whose driver then fled.

After initially discussing the trail of the accident, the Tajik authorities announced on Monday that the suspects " had knives and firearms " and that one of the tourists had been stab wounded.

" We are studying all the tracks ", including that of a theft, told reporters the Tajik Minister of the Interior, Ramazon Hamro Rahimzoda. " For the moment, we can not say with certainty whether it is a terrorist act or another crime. "

President Emomali Rakhmon called for strengthening security in the country.

Two Americans, one Swiss and one Dutchman were killed in this attack, while another Swiss and another Dutchman were injured.

The seventh tourist, a Frenchman who was at the back of the pack, came out unscathed. He is questioned by the police and, said a French diplomatic source to AFP, the embbady in Tajikistan " is working to facilitate his return to France ".

According to several press reports released by the police, at least four suspects were arrested and five others killed in police operations to find those responsible for the attack.

One of the suspects killed by the police, a 21-year-old Tajik, is the alleged owner of the car that mowed the tourists.

– " In shock " –

According to the Minister, one of the two injured tourists was killed by " stabbing " and is in the hospital in a state " stable ".

A Belgian cyclist, Nicolas Moerman, who arrived at the scene just after the attack, told the Flemish public TV and radio VRT that he saw " several cyclists on the ground, some completely shocked ".

" I asked what had happened and the first thing someone said to me was that they were hit by a car and that the people who were had come out had begun to stab them "he said.

The Dutchman killed, a 56-year-old man, was with his 58-year-old partner, also from the Netherlands, according to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for " to shed light on this serious incident ".

The attack took place on the southernmost part of M41, known as the Pamir Highway, which connects Kyrgyzstan in the north to Afghanistan in southern Tajikistan.

Built in the Soviet era, it is popular with cycling enthusiasts for its high-altitude sections, with pbades reaching over 4,500 meters, and its desert landscapes.

Tajikistan, a small former Soviet republic in Central Asia that is predominantly Muslim and the poorest country in the former USSR, has been led by President Emomali Rakhmon with an iron fist since 1992.

After a bloody civil war in the 1990s, the Tajik authorities made the fight against religious fundamentalism a priority, taking radical measures in 2015 such as the forced shaving of beards, restrictions on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and a campaign against the wearing of the hijab.

The year 2018 was declared " year of tourism " in Tajikistan and state agents were warned that they would be dismissed and considered " traitors "if they demanded bribes from visitors.

The number of tourists quadrupled in the first five months of the year over a year, according to the head of state. In 2016, Tajikistan introduced a simplified electronic visa system for nationals of 80 countries.

However, tourism remains relatively undeveloped, with 414,000 arrivals in 2015, according to World Bank figures.