KHUJAND, March 12, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Another alleged member of the outlawed religious extremist group Jamaat Ansarullah has been detained in Sughd province.

According to the Sughd regional organized crime control department, the 31-year-old resident of the city of Istaravshan, R.T., was detained on suspicion of being member of Jamaat Ansarullah.

Criminal proceeding shave been instituted against him under the provisions of Article 187 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – organizing a criminal group; an investigation is under way.  

Jamaat Ansarullah, also known as the Society of Allah’s Soldiers, first came to light in September 2010 when the heretofore unknown organization claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on September 3 in Khujand.  An explosives-packed car rammed into the building of the Sughd regional organized crime control department, killing two officers and two civilians and wounding 28 people.  The suicide bomber was local resident Akmal Karimov, who was reportedly trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In September 2011, Jamaat Ansarullah issued several videos calling on Tajikistan’s citizens to embrace jihad against “infidels” and urging them to take action to support the implementation of Islamic Sharia law.  “Those who pray namaz, who follow fasting rules but support democracy are nonbelievers,” a man on the video said. “Allah is killing nonbelievers by our hands and, thus, blesses us.”  Some politicians and experts, however, doubt whether these videos can really be traced back to Jamaat Ansarullah.

In May 2012, Tajikistan’s Supreme Court officially banned Jamaat Ansarullah as extremist on the basis of a suit filed by the Prosecutor-General’s Office.