DUSHANBE, September 2, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Head of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s office in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) has been replaced.

An official source at the GBAO regional administration says Colonel Nusrat Mirzoyev, who had previously served as the chief of the SCNS counter terrorism department, was appointed to head the SCNS’s office in Gorno Badakhshan, replacing Amirbek Begnazarov.

Amirbek Begnazarov was transferred to the job at the SCNS central office in Dushanbe, the source added.

We will recall that chiefs of the Interior Ministry’s office in GBAO and Khorog police department have been dismissed after deadly clashes that took place in Khorog in May this year.

Two suspected drug traffickers were killed and one was wounded by police officers on May 21.  Besides, two persons were killed and at least seven people were wounded on the same day after police opened fire on a crowd that tried to storm a police station.  The fatalities occurred during a police offensive against suspected criminals and ensuing clashes between security forces and local residents upset with the police action.

The wounded suspected drug trafficker died in the hospital on May 23, sparking the march on the building of the SCNS’s office for GBAO in Khorog.  At least one person was killed and two wounded.  Witnesses reported that one of the protesters threw a grenade at the building of the SCNS’s office and some protesters opened fire on the facility.

Several dozens of protesters spent two nights in tents in the center of Khorog on May 24-25, demanding an investigation into deadly clashes on May 21 and the resignations of the local governor, police chiefs, and prosecutor.  Protesters left the central square in Khorog May 25 evening, after civil society activists and authorities agreed to investigate the May 21 deadly shooting followed by violent protests.