DUSHANBE, October 20, 2014, Asia-Plus – AFP news agency reports that Tajik law enforcement authorities said on Saturday (October 18) that police in Tajikistan have arrested 20 alleged Islamists for plotting to blow up two key road tunnels in the country.

AFP quoted an unidentified Interior Ministry spokesman as saying that “the Islamists wanted to blow up the strategic tunnels,” which link the center to the north of Tajikistan.  

He claimed all those held had returned to the country after fighting against President Bashar al-Assad''s government in Syria.

AFP says that according to the Tajik authorities, more than 200 Tajiks, most young unemployed radical Islamists, are now fighting in Syria.