According to Imomali Rakhmonov, government troops recaptured a regional airport near the town of Chkalovsk and were clearing the main northern city of Khojand of remaining rebel fighters.

The president dismissed rebel threats to blow up a dam in the north and flood the area, but admitted there had been heavy civilian casualties.

Rebel sources say the fighting, in which at least 80 people have been killed, is continuing.

The Islamist former opposition, which joined the government under a peace agreement last year, has sent forces to help the government side.

The rebels are opposing a deal which would bring the Islamic opposition into government.

President Rakhmonov: heavy civilian losses suffered

Regional analyst Malcolm Haslett says the crisis has highlighted complications dating from the civil war in Tajikistan, with many northerners from the Uzbek ethnic minority feeling sidelined by the peace process.

He says the rebellion has been one of the most serious threats to the government since the accord was signed last year.

In 1992, Tajikistan saw the first major clash between the Russian-educated elite which ruled the region under the Soviet system and Islamic forces emerging from 70 years of suppression.

Tajikistan's former communists won that war, but the ideological conflict was far from over.