Suspected Militant Blows Himself Up In Tajikistan

(RFE/RL) August 4, 2006 -- Reports say an alleged member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan blew himself up on August 3 in Tajikistan's northern Sughd Region, killing one police officer and wounding another two.

Tajikistan's Avesta news agency quotes unidentified security sources as saying the man detonated a hand grenade as police were attempting to arrest him.

In neighboring Kyrgyzstan, Deputy Interior Minister Omurbek Suvanaliev today confirmed the reports.

Suvanaliev said the chief of police in Kyrgyzstan's Batken region, which borders Sughd Region to the north, had gone to Tajikistan to discuss the incident with their Tajik colleagues.

Suvanaliev said that Tajik security forces are looking for another suspected Islamic militant.

(Avesta, 24.kg)