On the night of November 6, an armed group of 20 masked men attacked the Ishkobod border outpost on the Tajik-Uzbek border about 50 kilometers from Dushanbe. According to the press service of the Border Troops Directorate of the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) of Tajikistan, the attackers on the outpost of the Sultanabad border detachment were militants of the Islamic State * who entered the country from Afghanistan.

As a result of the clash, 15 attackers were destroyed, the remaining ones were captured. According to RIA Novosti, on the Tajik side, two security forces died - an enlisted soldier and a policeman.

“Twenty IG fighters crossed the state border on November 3 from the side of the Shaartuz border detachment in the vicinity of the village of Kubodien,” the Tajik agency said.

The interlocutor of the agency said: during the interrogation, the detainees admitted that they had entered the territory of Tajikistan to carry out terrorist attacks aimed at destabilizing the situation in the country.

An operational investigation team is working at the scene of the incident. The Border Guard Service of Uzbekistan is aware of the incident. “We were informed about the incident. We are studying the situation and are in contact with the relevant Tajik authority, ”TASS quoted the agency as saying.

  • Footage from the attack on the border post
  • © Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan

Against the background of the attack in the Council of Commanders of the Border Troops (SKPV) of the CIS countries, they expressed their readiness to provide the necessary assistance in strengthening the Tajik-Afghan border.

“Together with the CSTO, we are ready to provide all possible assistance in organizing this work. Now CSTO materials have already been sent out. And we are ready to connect, to provide all kinds of help, ”RIA Novosti quotes the words of the chairman of the Coordination Service of the SKPV, Colonel General Alexander Manilov.

A senior military man is at the head of the SKPV delegation at the seventh scientific and practical conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS SCO), which opened on Wednesday in Tashkent. It should be noted that Constitution Day is also celebrated on this day in Tajikistan.

In June 2019, the Russian side assured Tajikistan that it would help strengthen the country's army against the backdrop of emerging threats. According to the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, Moscow intends to strengthen "the power component of the Republic of Tajikistan through the Ministry of Defense and special services of Russia, including the implementation of the program of modernization of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Tajikistan."

Note that in early 2019, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported on the mass transfer of IS fighters from Pakistan to the border of Tajikistan. Then in Moscow they did not exclude the possibility of provocation with the “squeezing out” of refugees towards Russia.

“ISIS fighters in droves by unknown helicopters from Pakistan today are being transferred to the Tajik border. Apparently, large-scale provocations are planned there in the future with the squeezing of a large number of refugees (and with all the consequences) towards Russia, ”Igor Zubov, deputy head of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, said on January 19.

  • Footage from the attack on the border post
  • © Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan

Terrorist activity in Tajikistan

Recall that about a year ago in Tajikistan, they detained 12 members of the Islamic State group who were preparing a terrorist attack in the country. On November 13, the first deputy chairman of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan, Mansurdzhon Umarov, reported the detention of attackers in the act.

In the same month, there were other reports of terrorist activity in the country. So, in the penal colony in Khujand, there was a riot of prisoners, launched by a supporter of the Islamic State.

In May of that year, riots broke out in a maximum security colony in Wahdat. The Tajik Interior Ministry said that the organizers of these events were also members of the IG. Then about 30 militants took three warders hostage and killed them. In the course of the special operation that followed, employees of the institution eliminated 21 people from among the initiators of the riot, and eight others were killed by other prisoners.

In addition, in June 2018, an attack on tourists occurred in Tajikistan, during which four foreigners died, including two U.S. citizens. Terrorists have claimed responsibility for this incident.

Later it became known that a special unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was formed in the country, the list of duties of which may include escorting tourists to their destination and ensuring their safety.

* “Islamic State” (ISIS, ISIS) - the organization was recognized as terrorist by decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of December 29, 2014.