DUSHANBE, September 24, Asia-Plus -- Officials say Tajikistan''s President Emomali Rahmon had dinner prepared for 10,000 people in a restless region where dozens died in a security operation in July, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports.

A spokesman for the Gorno-Badakhshan regional administration said residents of the regional capital, Khorog, were offered pots of the national dish, plov, to express the president''s thanks for the welcome they had given him during a visit earlier last week.

Cooks reportedly prepared three tons of the food at the city''s main stadium on September 22.

The special operation conducted in July by security forces in Gorno-Badakhshan left some 70 people dead.

Rahmon has said it targeted criminal groups and was meant to ensure the population''s safety.

Local residents claim the majority of those killed were ordinary people, not militants.