The government of Tajikistan says it's close to wiping out the rebels who have been causing trouble in the Rasht Valley. According to a report on Central Asia Online, there are only a handful of rebels remaining, led by the elusive Mullo Abdullo Rakhimov and including some foreign "mercenaries":
“According to our intelligence, the Rakhimov group is now in the Rasht District,” Interior Ministry chief of staff Tokhir Normatov said. “They are 10-12 in number; the special services now are busy establishing the location of these militants, who could at any moment again destabilise the region.”
A source in the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) put the number of followers at 16, included one man said to be severely wounded.
“We are not taking any active measures right now; we’re just searching,” the GKNB source said. “At some point sooner or later, he and his men will descend into the (Rasht) Valley, and we’ll catch them then. That’s how it was with Ali Bedaki, whom we captured in Runob, when he came downhill. It’s hard to look for anyone in the mountains; there are so many burrows where one could hide. But sooner or later, hunger and cold will force them to descend.”
However, in addition to the usual reasons for skepticism about the official version of events, Asia Plus reports that the bodies of those killed in the recent operation in Rasht (which netted Ali Bedaki) have been taken to Dushanbe "for further analysis," won't be handed over to the relatives and in fact will be buried in a secret place:
“Relatives of the killed militants came to the hospital’s mortuary on January 7 to take the bodies but physicians said that it is necessary to conduct a forensic examination on the bodies and the bodies will be returned the next day,” said the source, “But when the relatives who arrived in Gharm from other districts of the country came on January 8, physicians said the bodies disappeared. Medical workers could not clarify the loss of the bodies.” Meanwhile, an employee with the Gharm central district hospital says a truck URAL entered the hospital in the night of January 8. It seems that the bodies were loaded on that truck. “These days, the hospital’s mortuary was guarded by military personnel and medial workers were not allowed to enter the mortuary,” the hospital employee said.
Which raises the question: What are they hiding?
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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