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In their travel blogs, they told of making a "dream" by pedaling on the pbades of the famous Pamir road. Four cyclotourists from the United States, Switzerland and the Netherlands were murdered Sunday in Tajikistan during an attack claimed by the Islamic State.
According to the authorities of this country of Central Asia, the four victims Americans Jay Austin and Lauren Anne Geoghegan, Dutchman René Wokke and Switzerland's Markus Hummel
In a statement released in Washington, parents of Lauren Geoghegan, 29, previously identified as Lauren Munoz, said that the expedition of the young woman and her husband, Jay Austin, was to last a year.
This adventure "was typical of his enthusiasm to seize all the opportunities of life, his desire for meetings and discoveries and his desire to better understand the world, "they added,"
"We decided to leave our jobs and cycle around the globe," says the two cyclotourists, whose last published articles stop when they cross the mountainous regions of Tajikistan
"Tajikistan is a difficult place to pedal. It's cold, windy and mountains and, above all, everything is very, very high aloft, "says Austin in a text from last week.
The couple has just pbaded a mountain pbad at 4,655 meters above sea level with "little air" and "snow intermittently"
"I'm really happy to have arrived there. I will not do it again, "he wrote.
On Sunday, the group of seven Western tourists was mowed down by a car and attacked by gunmen, four of whom died and two others were wounded, while that the last, a Frenchman, escaped unscathed.
– Laic country –
This rare attack in this secular majority Muslim country was claimed by the jihadist Islamic State, while the Tajik authorities pointed to Iran and a local Islamic opposition party, banned in 2015.
Four suspects were arrested and four others shot dead by the police.
Tourists were traveling on the Pamir road that connects neighboring Kyrgyzstan in the north on the Afghan border south of Tajikistan, a route popular with cyclists for its difficulty and desert landscapes
Messages of condolences from friends and strangers have multiplied since the attack on Sunday he on the Instagram account of the American couple, who had already crossed Africa and Europe before flying to Kazakhstan in May.
Austin figured in an article in the Washington Post newspaper in 2015 as a supporter of the "micromotions movement", which promotes simplicity in housing and everyday life
The Dutch victim René Wokke, a 56-year-old psychologist, was traveling to Tajikistan with his partner Kim Postma, 58, who survived the attack and was able to leave the hospital, according to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
– "Dream come true" –
The Dutch NRC information website reported that the couple is from Amsterdam and traveled from Bangkok, Thailand to Tehran, Iran, having chosen to cross Tajikistan rather than unstable Afghanistan.
René Wokke was an experienced traveler and explored more than 130 countries, according to hisbrother, Erik.
On their blog, René and Kim described their crossing of the Pamir road as "the ultimate challenge" of their trip.
Markus Hummel, a Swiss, also wrote a story on his blog. [19659002] In an article entitled "A dream come true", he explains that he traveled along the Silk Road from China to Kyrgyzstan.
"Since we are already on the road, we do not want to Pamir's route to Tajikistan is not to be missed. "
The last text dates back to July 25, when the group of seven tourists was in the town of Khorog in Tajikistan:" We enjoy the silence, the landscapes of dream and be able to look at the Pamir River and the Afghan side of the valley all day. "
burs-cr-am-sl / pop / gmo / glr
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