DUSHANBE -- Tajik forces in Vose District, Khatlon Province, Tuesday (July 4) killed four relatives of Gulmurod Khalimov, the former OMON (riot police) commander who joined "Islamic State" (IS) in 2015, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tajik service reported Wednesday (July 5), quoting an unidentified police officer.
The dead men included two Khalimov brothers and two nephews, said the police officer. They were killed in a clash 25km from the Afghan border.
Authorities had kept Khalimov's brothers under surveillance and suspected the four men of heading for Afghanistan.
Unconfirmed reports of Khalimov's death in Iraq or Syria have surfaced in recent months, but Tajik authorities say he is still alive. Khalimov appeared in several IS propaganda videos and apparently served as the terrorist group's military commander.
