30-3-2024 (DUSHANBE) Tajikistan authorities have detained nine individuals this week suspected of involvement in the mass shooting at a Russian concert hall on March 22, including ties to the militant Islamist group claiming responsibility, a Tajik security source informed Reuters.
Among the detained are four Tajik citizens believed to be the gunmen responsible for the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades. They were apprehended along with seven others, some also hailing from the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation.
The Tajikistan State Security Committee arrested the suspects on Monday in Vakhdat city, transferring them to the capital, Dushanbe, for further questioning, as reported by the source without elaborating on specifics.
The concert hall assault near Moscow claimed the lives of at least 143 people.
Tajikistan, a member of a Russian-led security bloc and home to a Russian military base, has also detained the families of the suspected gunmen for interrogation by Russian investigators in Dushanbe, according to Reuters sources.
The predominantly Muslim nation, with a population of 10 million and bordering Afghanistan, relies heavily on remittances from migrant laborers in Russia, its economy still reeling from a civil war in the 1990s.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the concert hall attack, with US officials asserting intelligence linking it to the group’s Afghan branch, Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K).
US President Joe Biden condemned Russia’s actions, denouncing them as “appalling attempts” to use Americans as bargaining chips, and vowed consequences for the Kremlin.
Russian investigators alleged on Thursday a connection between the concert hall gunmen and “Ukrainian nationalists,” a claim swiftly dismissed by the US as unfounded propaganda. Kyiv vehemently denied any involvement in the attack.
