Tourists killed in Tajikistan: IS broadcast video of attackers

The Islamic State jihadist group, after claiming the killing of four Western tourists in Tajikistan, released a video of alleged perpetrators pledging allegiance to it on Tuesday, despite denials by the authorities in that Central Asian country. accuses Islamic opposition.

Seven foreign cyclotourists who came to face the pbades of the famous Pamir road were mowed down Sunday by a car and attacked by gunmen in the Danghara region, 150 kilometers south of Dushanbe capital

Two Americans, one Swiss and one Dutchman died. A Swiss and a Dutchman have been injured and a French tourist is unharmed.

After initially talking about a road accident, the authorities of the former Soviet republic announced on Monday that the suspects "had knives and firearms" and one of the tourists was wounded with a knife.

The IS that had immediately claimed the attack, circulated Tuesday a video of the performers claiming to have " the authorization of Allah "to kill the" unbelievers "

In this video, five young men sitting under a tree, against the background of the flag of the jihadist group, denounce the" http://www.lepoint.fr/ "occupation" of Tajikistan, calling the country's authorities "traitors" who "sold their religion."

All five are very similar to those whose photos were published Tuesday by the Tajik Ministry of the Interior. According to the ministry, four of them were killed by f order, while the fifth was arrested.

"Shameful and Illogical"

The Interior Ministry, however, rejects IS's claim and has named Tajikistan's Islamic Rebirth Party, which was banned in 2015, a decision criticized by Westerners for training as moderate.

The group of badailants "acted on the order" of Nossirkhoudjy Ubudov, "active member" of the Islamic Renaissance Party, thus badured the ministry, claiming that it was led by another "active member" Hussein Abdoussamadov, 33, who was arrested and confessed.

For its part, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Renaissance, which held an emergency meeting on Tuesday, rejected the accusations. "unfounded and irrational", denouncing a crime "shameful and illogical."

According to his testimony to the police, Hussein Abdoussamadov followed in Iran "an ideological training, military and aimed at carrying out acts of sabotage". [19659003] For these purposes, "he went to Qom and Mazandar (Iranian) cities four times between 2014 and 2015," the Tajik police said in a statement. It is in Iran "that he took an oath of allegiance to Nossirkhoudjy Ubudov," an active member of the Islamic Renaissance Party since 1992.

Iran has denied "any connection with this terrorist attack", by the spokesman for diplomacy, Bahram Ghasemi, quoted by Mehr News Agency.

Relations between Iran and Tajikistan, which share Persian cultural and linguistic heritage, have been under heavy pressure since this very poor Central Asian country has turned to Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Arab countries in the hope of attracting investment in its economy.

Tajikistan, a secular country whose population is predominantly Sunni, makes the fight against religious fundamentalism a priority. The authorities in Afghanistan's neighboring country estimate that more than 1,000 Tajiks have joined the jihadists in Iraq and Syria.

In 2015, they took radical measures to counter the influence of religious extremists, including shaving forced beards and campaign against the wearing of the hijab

Authorities also banned the Islamic Renaissance party, then the only legal Islamic party in the country, accusing it of seeking to establish an "Islamic state" in Tajikistan.

31/07/2018 16:19:48 –
Dushanbe (Tajikistan) (AFP) –
© 2018 AFP