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Four cyclists, including two Americans, were killed in an attack in Tajikistan, officials told ABC News. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a Twitter message on Monday.
A group of seven cyclists was heading north in the Danghara district, about 55 miles southeast of the capital Dushanbe, when they were hit by a car with five armed people on board Sunday. The interior minister of Tajikistan said that after hitting the cyclists, the people of the car went out and attacked them with a gun and a knife.
The two Americans, a woman and a man, were killed with a Swiss and a Dutch national.
Authorities said at the time that they thought it was perhaps a deliberate terrorist attack, although they were not the only way to prevent it. have not ruled out armed robbery. On Monday afternoon, a terrorist group from ISIS issued a statement on Twitter in Arabic claiming the attack.
The post says that a "detachment of the Caliphate soldiers" was launched to strike "citizens of the Crusader coalition countries", knocking them down and then using knives, killing four people and injuring four others . He said: "We are giving good news to the citizens of the Crusader coalition countries with what will bother them, and what is coming next is more devastating and bitter, if Allah allows it.
Earlier Monday, the US Embassy in Dushanbe condemned the attack and sent his condolences to the families. The embassy issued a security alert, urging to take security precautions, but saying that there was "no evidence that indicates an increased level of threat to US citizens."
A State Department official told ABC News that the United States was "aware of reports that this may have been a terrorist act," but referred to the Tajik authorities, who are leading the charge. # 39; investigation.
US victims have not been named, because of confidentiality concerns, but the authorities have condemned the attack.
"We strongly condemn the cruelty of the attackers and recognize that they in no way represent the kindness and hospitality of the Tajik people," said the Embassy in a statement.
Getty Images If the authorities confirm this, it would be the first time that Americans would be killed in a terrorist attack outside the United States since an attack in August 2017 in Barcelona.
Three other Dutch and Swiss bikers were also injured before the attackers left. a Swiss woman was stabbed and no longer in critical condition. A French citizen was brought in for a check but was not injured, a Tajik health official told ABC News.
Taylor Weidman / Bloomberg via Getty Images [19659012] in front of a banner depicting an image of Tajikistan, President Emomali Rahmon exhibited in a building in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on April 22, 2018.
Five attackers were involved in the incident, officials said Tajiks Monday. Authorities said they arrested four suspects and recovered a damaged Leganza, which they said was involved in the incident, which was initially reported as a hit-and-run. Another person resisted the arrest and was "eliminated" as a suspect.
The US Embassy confirmed the attack with multiple sources and said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan had arrested a suspect and killed at least three other people.
Tajikistan declared 2018 "a year of tourism" and the authorities were cautious before describing the incident as terrorism.
"We examine the versions according to which there was an accident, an armed robbery or a murder, but the version of a terrorist act "is not excluded," said Ramazon Rakhimzoda, Interior Minister in Dushanbe.
The investigation was placed under the personal control of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.
STOCK IMAGES / Getty Images Rahmon sent telegrams expressing his condolences to President Donald Trump, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Swiss President Alain Berset, according to the authorities.
In these letters, he reportedly told President Trump that the Tajik authorities were doing everything in their power to bring the perpetrators of this "heinous act" to justice.
The roads through the mountains and valleys of Tajikistan and Central Asia attract serious cyclists. The Pamir Highway is considered the second highest road on the planet. Only the Karakoram road in neighboring China is higher, with a thin margin.
Tajikistan is one of the former poorest Soviet republics and has struggled with poverty and instability since its independence in 1991.
ABC News & # 39; Conor Finnegan and Kirit Radia contributed to this report.
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