DUSHANBE, January 19, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Tajik interior minister has denied report by some media outlets that an active phase of an operation to annihilate illegal armed formations allegedly began in Rasht and Tojikobod district as “unfounded.”

In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Minister of Interiors Abdurahim Qahhorov revealed on January 19 that the country’s law enforcement authorities are currently carrying out the operation to hunt down militants of the gang commanded by Abdullo Rahmonov, who is also known as Mullo Abdullo.

The minister also noted that police detained 36 members of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), one representative of Al-Qaeda, 10 members of Jamaat Tabligh, 17 members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in 2010 and ten members of the IMU, primarily nationals of Tajikistan, were killed last year.