Alleged Insurgent On Tajik TV Says He Is Daghestani
July 28, 2009
DUSHANBE -- A man shown on Tajik television said he is a Daghestani with Russian citizenship and an alleged member of an insurgent group that was fighting against Tajik forces in eastern Tajikistan, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.
The man said he is Magomed Rukhullaevich Sabiullaev and was born in 1984. He added that he took part in attacks against security forces in Tajikistan's Nurabad and Tavil-Dara districts earlier this summer after flying to Tajikistan from St. Petersburg.
Sabiullaev said he joined an armed group led by Sheikh Nemat, also known as Nemat Azizov. Azizov, who was a field commander during the Tajik civil war in the 1990s and later worked in Tajikistan's Emergency Situations Ministry, is wanted by Tajik officials for alleged manslaughter and drug-related crimes.
Sabiullaev went on to give detailed information about preparations for attacks against police. He claimed that another Russian citizen and a Kazakh national are among the militants he fought alongside.
Tajik officials say they have killed several insurgents and detained more than 100 in eastern Tajikistan in the past several weeks in what they say is an operation against drug traffickers.