Police in Tajikistan on Tuesday linked an attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group that killed four tourists to a banned Islamist opposition group and Iran.
The victims — two Americans, one Swiss citizen and one Dutch citizen — were struck by a car and attacked on Sunday on a popular cycling route in the Central Asian country. Two other foreigners were injured in the attack in the Danghara district, about 100 km from the capital Dushanbe. A French citizen survived unscathed.
In a statement on Monday, the IS claimed that a “detachment from the soldiers of the Caliphate” had carried out the attack. However, aTajik police statement on Tuesday ignored the IS claim and said the chief detained suspect was a member of a banned Islamist opposition party and had undergone “military sabotage” training in Iran.
The suspected attack leader, Hussein Abdusamadov, 33, was an “active member” of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, which was banned by the government in 2015, police said. Police said the suspect also testified that he had travelled four times to Iran, “where he received an ideological education and underwent military sabotage training”.
The attack on the tourists on a popular cycling route was initially reported as a hit-and-run, but Tajikistan’s Interior Minister Ramazon Hamro Rahimzoda said on Monday that the group had been armed with “knives and firearms”.
At least one of the three tourists who survived the attack is being treated for stab wounds in hospital, the Minister told a press conference.
