DUSHANBE, April 30, Asia-Plus – The head of the interior affairs office in Khatlon province says several members of groups related to the unregistered Islamic Jamaat-ut Tabligh have been detained in the Bokhtar and Baljuvon districts and the southern city of Qurghon-Teppa, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on April 29.

Tajik Army Colonel Shodibek Rajabov didn''t say how many were arrested, but told RFE/RL''s Tajik Service that most of the detained were released soon after their detention.

Tajik Interior Minister Abdurahim Qahhorov said last week that authorities had arrested 124 Jamaat-ut Tabligh followers throughout the country, of whom all but four were later released.

The four who were kept are accused of being members of the outlawed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.