DUSHANBE, November 14, Asia-Plus -- The Dushanbe prosecutor’s office has instituted criminal proceedings in connection with a blast that occurred in Dushanbe today morning.  

The criminal proceedings have been instituted under Article 179 of Tajikistan’s Criminal Code (terrorism), the Dushanbe prosecutor Qurbonali Muhabbatov said, speaking to journalists on the scene of the blast.  

He added that the State Committee for National Security is investigating into the blast.  “Experts are working to determine character and power of the blast,” the prosecutor said.   

As it had been reported earlier, the explosion occurred in the rear yard of the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex today morning, at around 8:10 a.m., killing one person.  The blast was quite powerful that it blew out the windows of Kokhi Vahdat and nearby buildings.  According to some source, the Kokhi Vahdat guard found a package in the rear yard of the complex and it blew up in his hands.  As a result of the blast, the guard was killed.

            According to some source, the power of explosion equaled some 2-3 kilograms of TNT. 

            The Kokhi Vahdat State Complex is usually used for holding various government ceremonial events and international conference.  Today morning, a regional consultative conference on disaster risk reduction issues with participation of Central Asian emergency ministers and a number of international organizations was supposed to be held at the complex.    

Following the incident, the conference will be held in Vefa Center.