KHUAJND, November 12, 2014, Asia-Plus - Twelve alleged members of the outlawed religious extremist group Jamaat Ansarullah have been detained in Sughd province.

An official source at the Sughd organized crime control department says all of them are residents of the Istaravshan and Konibodom districts, aged 26 to 42.

“They were trying to recruit residents of Sughd to fight in Syria,” the source said.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against them under the provisions of two articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 187 (2) – organization of a criminal group or participation in a criminal group; and Article 195 (2) - illegally bearing, possessing, and acquiring weapons and explosives.  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.