DUSHANBE, July 19, 2013, Asia-Plus -- Four members of the illegal armed group of Abdullo Rahimov, widely known as Mullo Abdullo, have been detained over the first six months of this year, Minister of Interiors Ramazon Rahimov told reporters in Dushanbe on July 19.

According to him, they are suspected of having been involved in eleven serious crimes.

We will recall that Mullo Abdullo himself was killed on April 15, 2011 along with 14 of his confederates in the Rasht district, some 50 kilometers west of Gharm, the administrative center of Rasht district.  Tajik authorities said Mullo Abdullo and his followers were behind the 2011 attack on Tajik Army forces in Kamarob Gorge in the eastern Rasht district in which at least 26 soldiers died.

Mullo Abdullo was one of UTO field commanders during the country’s 1992-1997 civil war.  He never accepted the peace treaty and reportedly fled to Afghanistan.  In 2009, a few reports surfaced that he had returned to Tajikistan and was hiding in the mountains around the Rasht district.

Speaking at the news conference, the interior minister also noted today that 12 members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), 11 members of Jamaat Ansarullah, three members of the Jundullah Islamic group and one member of Hizb ut-Tahrir have been detained over the same six-month period. 

“10,361 crimes have been reported in Tajikistan in January-June this year, which is 10 percent more than in the same period last year,” the minister said.