Dushanbe (Tajikistan), April 17: Authorities in Tajikistan today said that government troops have killed an elusive Islamist militant who has been the country’s most-wanted insurgent for more than a decade.
Interior Ministry chief of staff Tokhir Normatov said that Abdullo Rakhimov, also known by his nom de guerre Mullo Abdullo, was killed along with 14 other militants in the Central Asian nation’s eastern Rasht Valley in a military operation yesterday.
The impoverished former Soviet nation serves as a link in supply routes for the NATO military campaign in neighbouring Afghanistan, and reports on government success in battling Islamic militants will likely be greeted with relief in the West.
Images of Rakhimov’s body were shown on state television on the evening news today.
Authorities say militants led Rakhimov carried out last year’s ambush on a military convoy in which at least 25 soldiers were killed.
-Agencies