DUSHANBE, June 7, 2015, Asia-Plus -- 412 Tajik nationals fighting alongside terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq have been identified, Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda told reporters in Dushanbe on June 5 after a meeting of the interior ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member nations.

71 of them have been killed, the minister noted.

According to him, 370 criminal proceedings have been instituted against 394 Tajik nationals illegally participating in foreign armed conflicts.  “It has been established that the majority of them have been recruited in the Russian Federation,” Rahimzoda added.

Meanwhile Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service last month quoted Mr. Edward Lemon of the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, who tracks Tajik militants, as saying that he has a list of 102 Tajiks fighting in Syria and Iraq.  However, Lemon says that the figure, which is based on officials, media reports, and videos, should be taken with caution, because there are likely to be more Tajiks fighting in Syria than have been reported.