Two Tajik military officers stabbed to death amid recruitment drive
Police say they have yet to determine the assailants' identity or the motive behind the attack
A photo taken in August 2010 and made available on September 21, 2010 shows Tajik border guards checking identification documents of people crossing the Tajik-Afghan border on a bridge across the Panj River outside the city of Panj. PHOTO: AFP
DUSHANBE, TAJIKISTAN:
Two military officers from a conscription office in ex-Soviet Tajikistan were stabbed to death amid a recruitment drive for the country's impoverished and violence-plagued armed forces, police told AFP on Monday.
The attack, which took place on the streets of the capital Dushanbe on Saturday, targeted defence officials actively involved in the roundup of Tajik soldiers for compulsory military service, a process synonymous with violent kidnappings.
Police said they had yet to determine the assailants' identity or the motive behind the attack, which also left two other officers in a serious condition.
Tajikistan says destroyed militant group behind deadly clashes
Defence ministry spokesman Faridun Makhmadaliev ruled out the possibility that the killings were tied to the unpopular forced recruitment into the Central Asian country's military.
"We are looking at different versions," Makhmadaliev told AFP on Monday. "But it is not connected with the recruitment of young people for compulsory service in the army."
Local civil society groups have long protested against the forced recruitment of soldiers in the country.
US's Kerry on mission to reassure nervous Central Asia
Hazing and desertion are commonplace in the Tajik armed forces, where salaries are low and conditions trying.
A military sergeant last year was sentenced to nine years in jail for beating a conscript to death.
Two military officers from a conscription office in ex-Soviet Tajikistan were stabbed to death amid a recruitment drive for the country's impoverished and violence-plagued armed forces, police told AFP on Monday.
The attack, which took place on the streets of the capital Dushanbe on Saturday, targeted defence officials actively involved in the roundup of Tajik soldiers for compulsory military service, a process synonymous with violent kidnappings.
Police said they had yet to determine the assailants' identity or the motive behind the attack, which also left two other officers in a serious condition.
Tajikistan says destroyed militant group behind deadly clashes
Defence ministry spokesman Faridun Makhmadaliev ruled out the possibility that the killings were tied to the unpopular forced recruitment into the Central Asian country's military.
"We are looking at different versions," Makhmadaliev told AFP on Monday. "But it is not connected with the recruitment of young people for compulsory service in the army."
Local civil society groups have long protested against the forced recruitment of soldiers in the country.
US's Kerry on mission to reassure nervous Central Asia
Hazing and desertion are commonplace in the Tajik armed forces, where salaries are low and conditions trying.
A military sergeant last year was sentenced to nine years in jail for beating a conscript to death.