Tajikistan: Several Killed In ISIS Attack

Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon was on a visit to Switzerland when the attack happened. AFP
Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon was on a visit to Switzerland when the attack happened. AFP
TT
20

Tajikistan: Several Killed In ISIS Attack

Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon was on a visit to Switzerland when the attack happened. AFP
Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon was on a visit to Switzerland when the attack happened. AFP

Seventeen people were killed in Tajikistan on Wednesday in an attack on a border post that officials blamed on ISIS group militants who had crossed over from Afghanistan.

Tajik security forces killed 15 when an armed and masked gang attacked the checkpoint on the border with Uzbekistan.

A soldier and a policeman also died in the fighting, officials said, AFP reported.

The clashes near the Tajik capital Dushanbe broke out as the country prepared to celebrate Constitution Day on Wednesday and the country's long-serving President Emomali Rakhmon was on a visit to Switzerland.

Rakhmon is also expected to visit Paris later this week to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron as part of a rare European visit.

After questioning several detained militants, the Tajik border guard service said the men were members of the ISIS group who had crossed the border from Afghanistan on Sunday.

"All (of them) are members of the so-called terrorist group 'ISIS'", the border guard service said in a statement.

The interior ministry released pictures of several bodies in black clothes lying next to burnt-out vehicles at the scene of the clash.

The militants crossed the border in the south of Tajikistan and apparently trekked to the site of the attack on the border with Uzbekistan, which is around 200 kilometres away.

The armed gang of around 20 masked people attacked the Ishkobod border post located some 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of the Tajikistan capital after 3 am local time Wednesday, the interior ministry said.

"As a result of an operation conducted by law enforcement forces, 15 members of an armed criminal group were neutralized and four more attackers detained," stated.

The country's border guards said separately that five attackers had been detained.

According to AFP, tens of thousands of people were killed in Tajikistan during a five-year civil war in the 1990s.



White House: Trump to Decide on US Action in Israel-Iran Conflict Within 2 Weeks

First responders inspect a heavily-damaged building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)
First responders inspect a heavily-damaged building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)
TT
20

White House: Trump to Decide on US Action in Israel-Iran Conflict Within 2 Weeks

First responders inspect a heavily-damaged building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)
First responders inspect a heavily-damaged building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)

The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump will make a decision on whether the US will get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict in the next two weeks.

Citing a message from Trump, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: "Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks."

Trump said Wednesday he doesn’t want to carry out a US strike on Iran but suggested he stands ready to act if it’s necessary to extinguish Iran’s nuclear program.

Russia warned the US against entering the Israel-Iran conflict.

“US military interference would be an extremely dangerous step with truly unpredictable negative consequences,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

The comments come after Iran’s state media said the country’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will meet with European counterparts in Geneva on Friday.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot did not confirm the Geneva meeting.

The message from Iranian authorities was “relatively clear: there is a willingness to resume talks, including with the United States, provided that a ceasefire can be reached,” Barrot told a news conference in Paris.

Barrot said that France and Europeans partners are ready to “resume negotiations” with Iran.