DUSHANBE, August 11, 2009, Asia-Plus – The member of the outlawed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) that was killed during a special operation outside Dushanbe on August 9 was identified as Shavkat Yusufov, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on August 10.

RFE/RL’s Tajik Service quoted Tajik Ministry of Interior spokesman Muhammadjon Nazriev as saying that Yusufov was born in 1977 and was from the Chorkuh area of the northern Isfara district in Sughd province.  According to him, police had first issued an arrest warrant for Yusufov in 2006.

RFE/RL’s Tajik Service noted that authorities do not appear to have confirmed a Reuters report from Dushanbe suggesting that police had killed a long sought-after fugitive, IMU militant Lutfullo Tursunov, in a shoot-out the same day.

Reuters reported on August 10 that Tajik police have killed a suspected Taliban-linked Islamist militant in a gun fight that followed a series of similar clashes within the last months.  A senior security forces official told Reuters a special police force unit tried to detain another suspected IMU member on Sunday.  "During the operation aimed at detaining IMU activist Lutfullo Tursunov he opened fire from a Kalashnikov assault rifle," said the official, who asked not to be named, according to Reuters.  "The special forces (police unit) had to return fire and (Tursunov) was fatally wounded," the official said.