DUSHANBE , April 15, 2011, Asia-Plus – Militant leader Abdullo Rahimov (Mullo Abdullo) and ten his associates have been killed in a special operation carried out Tajik security forces in eastern Tajikistan, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on April 15, referring to the Interior Ministry press center.

According to the Interior Ministry press center, Tajik national television will show report on the special operation that began in the village of Samsoliq in Nourobod district on April 14 today evening.

We will recall that armored carriers and combat helicopters were involved in the operation.   At least two officers from the power-wielding structures were killed in gunfire between the government forces and the militants.

Authorities say Mullo Abdullo and his confederates were behind the September attack on Tajik army forces in Kamarob Gorge in Rasht district, in which at least 28 servicemen were killed and more than 10 others wounded.

In recent months, officials have said several times that the operation in the Rasht valley was over, but then admitted it is continuing.   On November 9, the head of the State Committee for National Security, Saymumin Yatimov, said that the operation in Rasht was almost over.   He recalled that some 20 gunmen had been killed and some 30 others either surrendered or sided with government forces in pursuit of the militants.   The law enforcement authorities reported on January 4 that one of the suspected attackers Alovuddin Davlatov (Ali Bedaki) and his seven confederates have been killed in a special operation in Rasht district.

Mullo Abdullo is believed to be Al-Qaeda''s man in Tajikistan.   He never accepted the peace agreement of 1997 that ended Tajikistan''s civil war.