four foreign tourists killed, mowed by a car

Four foreign tourists traveling by bicycle in southern Tajikistan were killed and three others wounded on Sunday by a car, the Central Asian authorities said. The accident occurred in the Danghara region, 150 km south of the capital, Dushanbe, said the Tajik Interior Ministry in a statement, adding that the driver of the car had fled after the

Two of those killed were Americans, according to the US Embbady. "Three foreigners died on the spot and another died from wounds in the hospital," the ministry said, adding that three other tourists from the same group received medical help. The Tajik Interior Ministry said that the tourist group consisted of two Americans, two Dutch and three other foreigners, without saying what nationality the people were killed. According to the US Embbady in Tajikistan, two of those killed were Americans.

Two people were shot dead. The police announced in the evening to have shot dead two people and arrested another person as part of a special operation launched after the accident to find his or her manager (s). "One person was arrested, two others resisted at the time of arrest and were killed," the Interior Ministry said, without specifying whether the suspects were linked to a radical organization.

Tajikistan, a small Central Asian country with the majority of the population Muslim and the poorest of the former Soviet republics, has been led by President Emomali Rakhmon with an iron fist since 1992.