Tajikistan Launches Anti-Islamic Operations, 34 Of Its Troops Killed On First Day

To say this didn't go well, would be the understatement of the year. Tajik troops undertaking an operation against islamic terrorists and rebels in that land incurred huge losses yesterday as 34 troops were killed including a downed helicopter incident where 28 troops met their death.

From the article at Breitbart:

Thirty-four Tajik troops have been killed in two separate incidents during a military operation against Islamic insurgents in the east of the Central Asian state, military sources said Thursday.
Twenty-eight troops were killed Wednesday when a military helicopter crashed in a possible militant strike, the sources told AFP, although public statements insisted only four were killed in an accident.

"Not a single passenger survived the crash of the Mi-8 military helicopter on Wednesday morning," said a military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, raising an earlier toll of 25.

A high-ranking Tajik military source, speaking on condition of strict anonymity, said that it was possible that the helicopter had been shot down by a missile fired by Islamists from their mountain hideouts.

If you recall, last month saw some horrific terror attacks by islamists in Tajikistan and thus these operations are in respone, in part, to that but man, what a horrific way to start it all off.

34 Tajik troops killed in 'anti-Islamist operations'


Thirty-four Tajik troops have been killed in two separate incidents during a military operation against Islamic insurgents in the east of the Central Asian state, military sources said Thursday.
Twenty-eight troops were killed Wednesday when a military helicopter crashed in a possible militant strike, the sources told AFP, although public statements insisted only four were killed in an accident.

"Not a single passenger survived the crash of the Mi-8 military helicopter on Wednesday morning," said a military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, raising an earlier toll of 25.

A high-ranking Tajik military source, speaking on condition of strict anonymity, said that it was possible that the helicopter had been shot down by a missile fired by Islamists from their mountain hideouts.

Another six troops were killed in a separate incident caused by the accidental explosion of a mine late Wednesday, according to a military source.

"The faulty placement of a mine led to an explosion that killed six Tajik national guards," the source told AFP, adding that more than 10 officers were wounded in the incident.

40 Tajikistan Soldiers Killed In Ambush By Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan Jihadis

There are ambushes and then there are ambushes. When you have a convoy of 75 Tajikistani soldiers that get hit by Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan jihadis and the end result is 40 dead Tajik troops and zero Uzbeks killed, THAT is an ambush.

The ambush took place inside of Tajikistan as the troops were searching for escaped Uzbek prisoners and the result was a horrifying massacre.

From the article at The Long War Journal:

Forty Tajik soldiers were killed today in an ambush by suspected Islamist fighters allied with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

The soldiers were part of a 75-man convoy moving through the Rasht Valley in Tajikistan, an area known as a haven for Islamists fighters. Five Tajik officers are reported to have been among the 40 soldiers killed. No enemy fighters were reported killed.

The soldiers were ambushed while searching for members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who escaped from a prison in Dushanbe on Aug. 25. One guard was killed during the jailbreak, and four more guards were killed at a nearby detention facility.

The Islamist fighters are believed to have been led by a commander known as Mullo Abdullo (or Mullah Abdullah). Abdullo is said to be a commander in the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and has been based out of Afghanistan in the past. Abdullo led Islamist forces during the Tajik civil war, and in the aftermath of the war in the late 1990s, he fled the country after refusing to reconcile with the government. He sheltered in Afghanistan with the Taliban, along with an estimated 100 followers.

You see from the article the link between these Uzbeks and the Taliban - we have long seen the Uzbeks jihadis in the Taliban mix in Afghanistan - it's a bit like the jihadis that joined al Qaeda in Iraq from places like Morocco, Sudan and Algeria.

The Tajiks have been rocked recently by blatant suicide bombings and other raids so I'm sure the prison escape had them committed to finding the escapees...I'm sure there is a lot of blood on their hands but at the same time, one has to wonder what this ambush will do to the morale of the Tajik army.

40 Tajik soldiers killed in Islamist ambush


Forty Tajik soldiers were killed today in an ambush by suspected Islamist fighters allied with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

The soldiers were part of a 75-man convoy moving through the Rasht Valley in Tajikistan, an area known as a haven for Islamists fighters. Five Tajik officers are reported to have been among the 40 soldiers killed. No enemy fighters were reported killed.

The soldiers were ambushed while searching for members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who escaped from a prison in Dushanbe on Aug. 25. One guard was killed during the jailbreak, and four more guards were killed at a nearby detention facility.

The Islamist fighters are believed to have been led by a commander known as Mullo Abdullo (or Mullah Abdullah). Abdullo is said to be a commander in the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and has been based out of Afghanistan in the past. Abdullo led Islamist forces during the Tajik civil war, and in the aftermath of the war in the late 1990s, he fled the country after refusing to reconcile with the government. He sheltered in Afghanistan with the Taliban, along with an estimated 100 followers.

Abdullo is reported to have returned to Tajikistan in May 2009. In July 2009, he led 300 fighters in an attack on a police station near the eastern town of Tavil-Dara in Tajikistan. He is now said to lead more than 300 fighters and is based in the Rasht Valley, where today's ambush occurred.

Today's ambush in Tajikistan is the latest attack by Islamist fighters in the country this year. In addition to the Aug. jailbreak in Dushanbe, on Sept. 3 a suicide bomber attacked a police headquarters in Khujand, the second largest city in Tajikistan. Two policemen were killed and 30 more were wounded.

Within a week of the Khujand attack, Tajik border guards killed 20 Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fighters as they attempted to cross the border from Afghanistan. The Taliban and IMU fighters are thought to have been fleeing an ISAF and Afghan operation in Kunduz.

Tajikistan has seen an uptick in attacks from Islamist terror groups since the summer of 2009. In late spring of that year, NATO opened a supply line from Tajikistan into northern Afghanistan after the Taliban and allied groups heavily targeted the main NATO route from Pakistan.

In recent weeks, the US has been hunting Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan commanders in the northern Afghan provinces of Kunduz, Baghlan, and Takhar, where the terror group has integrated its operations with the Taliban. Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan commanders have taken senior roles in the Taliban's commander structure. On Sept. 2, the US killed an IMU leader who also served as Takhar's deputy shadow governor.

Former Tajikistan Armed Forces Join Al Qaeda

Sigh....the news just keeps getting worse in the Afghanistan theater as neighboring Tajikistan has now seen a significant portion of its military and ex-military join the ranks of the al Qaeda backed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

The Long War Journal has all of the gory details here but suffice it to say that this IS going to not only impact Tajikistan but it will all bleed over into neighborning Afghanistan. This is all a continuance of how al Qaeda has been able to add into its network those with military training and experience and that spells real trouble for those fighting them.

And while Barack Hussein Obama takes three months to make up his mind whether the situation in Afghanistan and the region is bad enough to warrant more troops, this kind of shit continues...the enemy seizes the opportunity to build up and prepare. This is what happens when you elect a guy, whose only organizational experience was to put together a picnic in a Chicago ghetto, as Commander-in-chief. While Obama's enemy for years was "The Man", unfortunately now he is finding that America's enemy has bullets, rpgs, suicide bomb belts and dirty bombs. And the whole time, al Qaeda laughs its collective ass off.

Tajik rebels join al Qaeda

Members of a Tajik military unit that turned against the government a decade ago have have joined the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and al Qaeda.
An unknown number of fighters who were loyal to rebel leader Mahmud Khudoyberdiyev joined the regional and global terror groups and have been fighting the Tajik government, the deputy chief of the Tajik National Security Committee said at a regional forum held earlier this month.
Khudoyberdiyev was a colonel in the Defense Ministry and led a brigade of troops. He led an unsuccessful uprising in 1997 and took control of a northern city in 1998 before fleeing to neighboring Uzbekistan.
It is "unclear" if Khudoyberdiyev himself has joined al Qaeda, a senior US intelligence official told The Long War Journal.
Tajikistan has become a battleground over the past year, as the Taliban and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan have tried to disrupt to NATO's new supply line into northern Afghanistan. NATO sought the new supply route after the Taliban began to effectively interdict supply columns passing through Pakistan's Taliban insurgency-infested Northwest Frontier Province.
On July 9, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, under the command of Mullah Abdullah, sent a force of 300 fighters into the town of Tavil-Dara in Tajikistan and attacked a police station. Abdullah is thought to have crossed from Kunduz into Tajikistan several weeks before the attack. Eleven days later, the IMU attacked a remote military checkpoint in Tajikistan near the Afghan border; five IMU fighters were killed during the assault.
Al Qaeda absorbs former military members
Al Qaeda has been successful in absorbing officers and enlisted members from Middle Eastern and South and Central Asian militaries. Significant numbers of Egyptians, Pakistanis, and Iraqis make up the leadership of al Qaeda's military.
Three of the senior-most leaders of al Qaeda's military arm have served in the military of their native countries.
Saif al Adel, who is the leader of al Qaeda's military committee as well as the group's chief strategist and planner, served as a colonel in the Egyptian Special Forces before defecting to Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which eventually merged with al Qaeda. A significant number of Egyptian officers and enlisted also now serve as senior al Qaeda leaders.
Ilyas Kashmiri served as a commando in Pakistan's Special Services Group. Kashmiri now serves as the operational chief of Brigade 313 and the Harkat-ul Jihad Islami, an al Qaeda-linked terror group that operates in Pakistan, Kashmir, India, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. Kashmiri was recently listed as the fourth-most-wanted terrorist by Pakistan's Interior Ministry. He is considered by US intelligence to be one of al Qaeda's most dangerous commanders. Numerous Pakistani officers and enlisted are known to bolster various Pakistani jihadi groups.
Abd al Hadi Al Iraqi served as a major in Saddam Hussein's Army before joining al Qaeda. Al Hadi led al Qaeda's paramilitary forces in Pakistan's tribal areas until he was captured while moving to Iraq to take control of operations in late 2006. In addition, several other Iraqi intelligence and Army officers have fled to Pakistan's tribal areas and have been integrated into al Qaeda's Shadow Army, or Lashkkar al Zil.