Tajikistan's State Committee for National Security (GKNB) has arrested at least 9 residents of Vahdat city for their connections to the suspects involved in the terrorist attack at "Crocus City Hall" in Moscow on March 22nd and the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (ISIS - banned in Tajikistan).
The news was confirmed by a source within Tajikistan's security agencies to "Asia-Plus," but no additional information was provided. It is known that all of the detainees are residents of Vahdat and were arrested by GKNB personnel this week.
Following the attack on the concert hall "Crocus City Hall" in Moscow, 8 individuals were arrested as suspects and are being held in custody until May 22nd. According to the investigation, five of them are Tajik citizens, two are natives of Tajikistan with Russian citizenship, and one is a Kyrgyzstani national with Russian citizenship.
The responsibility for the "Crocus" attack was claimed by the cell of the "Islamic State" known as "Wilayat Khorasan." Tajikistan's law enforcement agencies, in collaboration with Russian investigators, have been questioning the relatives of the detainees. Some relatives have been released, while others are still being interrogated.
One of the suspects, Saidakram Rajabali-zoda, is a native of Vahdat, Tajikistan. According to "Radio Ozodi," Tajik authorities interrogated his mother, brother, wife, and two uncles in Dushanbe following the attack.
Currently, it is unknown how the 9 detainees in Vahdat are connected to Saidakram Rajabali-zoda and the other suspects in the Moscow attack. Earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan informed "Asia-Plus" that they had no information about the arrest of Vahdat residents. Confirmation or denial of this information from GKNB was not possible.
On the evening of March 22nd, a group of armed terrorists stormed the concert hall "Crocus City Hall" in Krasnogorsk, indiscriminately shooting people and setting the venue on fire. The official death toll from the attack stands at 143, with 360 injured.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) reported the arrest of 11 individuals on March 23rd in connection with the investigation. Four of them, including Saidakram Rajabali-zoda, were suspected of mass murder and were remanded in custody for two months on March 24th.
On March 25th, three more individuals - Aminjon Islomov, Dilovar Islomov, and their father Isroil Islomov - were remanded in custody for allegedly providing a vehicle and accommodation to the attackers. Alisher Kasymov, a 32-year-old native of Kyrgyzstan, was arrested on March 26th until the end of May for renting an apartment to one of the suspects.
