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
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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.



Ukraine Urges Investigation into Alleged Russian Chemical Weapons Use

The logo of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is seen during a special session in the Hague, Netherlands June 26, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
The logo of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is seen during a special session in the Hague, Netherlands June 26, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
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Ukraine Urges Investigation into Alleged Russian Chemical Weapons Use

The logo of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is seen during a special session in the Hague, Netherlands June 26, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
The logo of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is seen during a special session in the Hague, Netherlands June 26, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

Ukraine asked the global chemical weapons watchdog in The Hague on Tuesday to investigate the alleged use of banned toxic munitions by Russia against its forces.

A request to establish an investigation was submitted by Kyiv to the governing body of the organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

It followed Dutch and German intelligence agencies on Friday saying they had evidence of widespread use of illegal weapons by Russia along the frontline.

Agency chief Fernando Arias said in a statement to the OPCW's Executive Council that in view of the alleged frequent use of dangerous chemical agents his office would step up monitoring of activity along the Russia-Ukraine conflict line, Reuters reportf.

He invited Ukraine to discuss its proposal with member states, a majority of whom may be needed to support such an investigation.

The OPCW created a similar team in 2018 to examine accusations of chemical weapons use in Syria. The Investigation and Identification Team found that Syrian government forces and Islamic State militants had used banned chemical weapons in the civil war that began in March 2011. The United States first accused Russia in May last year of using chloropicrin, a chemical compound more toxic than riot control agents and first used by Germany during World War One. The OPCW, a disarmament agency in The Hague with 193 member states, said last year that initial accusations levelled by both countries at each other were "insufficiently substantiated".

Both sides have denied using chemical weapons in the conflict, which escalated when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

"Ukraine hereby requests the Director-General of the OPCW to take steps towards establishing an independent and impartial mechanism (to) investigate cases of alleged use of chemical weapons in Ukraine," a copy of the request shared with Reuters said.

It asked that the mechanism be empowered to "collect additional evidence and identify perpetrators, organisers, sponsors of such use."

It was submitted at the beginning of four days of closed-door meetings by the 41-country Executive Council of the OPCW. The disarmament body had no immediate comment on the request.

At least three Ukrainian deaths have been tied to chemical weapons use, the Dutch Military Intelligence Agency said, while more than 2,500 people injured on the battlefield reported chemical weapons-related symptoms to Ukrainian health authorities.

On Monday, Britain targeted two Russian individuals and one Russian entity as part of its chemical weapons sanctions regime, in its latest effort to punish Moscow for the war in Ukraine.