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Fighting Breaks Out In South-East Tajikistan
The fighting is the most severe in Tajikistan for almost two years and will worry Western politicians who are counting on the former Soviet state to act as a bulwark against any surge north by Islamic militants when Nato forces withdraw from neighbouring Afghanistan in 2014.
The Associated Press news agency quoted a Tajik security service officer as saying that 20 soldiers had been killed in gun battles around the town of Khorog, near the border with Afghanistan.
Other media outlets have also reported that up to 30 rebel fighters.
A Westerner living in Tajikistan told the Daily Telegraph that he had driven back to Dushanbe, the capital, from Khorog on Monday.
“I heard machine gun shots in the early morning on Monday, before the operation actually started,” he said.
“When I came back yesterday there were lots of Special Forces checkpoints on the road, gunships flying overhead and military trucks heading to Khorog.”
Khorog is a 15-hour car ride from Dushanbe along a single track dirt road that winds through steep-sided valleys.
Another Westerner living in Dushanbe said that the capital was calm.
Read more here: http://stratrisks.com/geostrat/7119
