Tajik court orders jail terms for militants

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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Four pro-Taliban militants have been sentenced to jail terms ranging from eight to 30 months by Tajikistan's Supreme Court.

The charges brought against the militants included setting up criminal and militant gangs.

Since last year's string of border clashes with armed groups, Tajikistan intensified its efforts against militants. Tajikistan, a former Soviet Union state, is concerned about the growing instability in the neighboring Afghanistan.

The four men, detained in Tajikistan last October, were accused of operating under the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), Central Asia's most prominent militant group.

Last year, regional governments blamed the IMU for a series of gun battles in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which followed the establishment of a new supply route for the US and Afghan forces through Central Asia.

Last October, Pakistan's intelligence officials said the IMU leader, former Soviet paratrooper Takhir Yuldashev, had been killed by a missile strike. Since last October, militants have posted videos on the Internet insisting that their leader was still alive.

According to security analysts, the number of IMU militants does not exceed 1,000.

The IMU, seeking to topple Central Asia's secular leaders to establish Islamic rule, fought against government troops across the region in the 1990s before most of its fighters joined forces with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118756§ionid=351020406.