Tajik rebel commander killed

Unidentified gunmen in Tajikistan have shot dead a rebel field commander and three fighters; one other fighter was wounded in the attack, near the capital Dushanbe.

A spokesman for the Islamic opposition Davlat Usmon said the commander, Makhmud Rajabov, and four of his bodyguards came under automatic gunfire near their base twenty-five kilometres east of Dushanbe.

The spokesman suggested the attack could've been a provocation aimed at halting the peace process in Tajikistan.

Last week, the Islamic opposition withdrew from the Tajik national reconciliation commission accusing the government of going back on its obligations in the seven-month-old peace accord.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service