QURGHON TEPPA, April 23, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Two militant followers of the mutinous Colonel Mahmoud Khudoiberdiyev were recently in Khatlon province, the Khatlon police directorate chief Abdurahmon Buzmakov said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, both of them were on the list of persons wanted by police and until recently they were in neighboring Uzbekistan.  “They were arrested when they returned to Khatlon by order of their leader to commit crime here,” Buzmakov said.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against them and local security directorate is investigating into their case, Buzmakov noted.

We will recall that Colonel Mahmoud Khudoiberdiyev made two failed coup attempts in 1997 and 1998.  After the failed coup attempt made in August 1997, Khudoiberdiyev and his supporters retreated south via Shahritus and Beshkent into southern Uzbekistan.  According to some sources, after leaving Tajikistan, the mutinous colonel and his militant followers moved through Uzbekistan into Afghanistan in November 1997.  Khudoiberdiyev reportedly returned to Uzbekistan in June 1998.  On November 4 1998, Khdoiberdiyev’s armed group invaded Sughd province from Uzbekistan.  A few days later the government regained control of the province.  Some 100 people were reportedly killed in the Sughd clashes.  Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office instituted criminal proceedings against Khudoiberdiyev under the provisions of two articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code (high treason and coup attempt) and has repeatedly requested Uzbek authorities to extradite Khudoiberdiyev to Tajikistan.

Buzmakov also noted that two followers of Jamaati Tabligh, a Sunni missionary group, have been detained in the province since the beginning of this year.  One of them was detained in the Bokhtar district and another one was arrested in the Jomi district.