Page 65 - bne magazine February 2024_20240206

bne February 2024 Opinion 65 COMMENT
Rising prominence of Tajiks in terrorist attacks abroad may reflect loss of hope back home
Bruce Pannier
In the short time that has elapsed since late December, citizens of Tajikistan have been accused of plotting or carrying out terrorist attacks in Austria, Germany, Iran and Afghanistan.
Why Tajik nationals abroad now seem to be increasingly involved with Islamic extremist groups is a curious matter, but part of the reason might be conditions back home in Tajikistan.
The political and socio-economic situation in Tajikistan is abysmal and it appears that the wretched trajectory might not change for many years, even decades.
Tajikistan has a population of more than 10mn people and it is the poorest country in Central Asia. Over one million Tajik citizens need to go abroad to find work and the remittances they send back account for some 48% of Tajikistan’s GDP. That makes Tajikistan the most remittance-dependent country in the world.
Attacks in Iran
On January 3, two suicide bombers attacked a commemorative ceremony in the southern Iranian city of Kerman for top general Qasem Soleimani who was killed in a US drone strike in 2020.
At least 94 people were killed and nearly 300 others were injured.
The next day, the Islamic State (IS) militant group claimed responsibility for the attack and, on January 5, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry said one of the bombers was a Tajik national.
The IS and its branch in Afghanistan – the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) – have staged attacks in Iran before and Tajik nationals were involved.
In August last year, an IS lone militant identified as Rahmatollah Nowruzov from Tajikistan entered the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz. He shot two people dead and wounded seven others.
In late October 2022, an IS militant identified as Tajik national Sobhan Kamrouni opened fire at the Shah Cheragh mausoleum, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 30 others.
Twenty-six people were arrested in connection with that attack; all were citizens of either Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, or Tajikistan.
Cathedral plots in Germany and Austria
On December 23, police in Germany said they detained four men in the town Wesel, near the Dutch border, while police in Austria said they had detained three men in Vienna.
Three of those detained in Germany were released, but the fourth, a 30-year-old Tajik man identified only as “Muhammadrajab B.,” was kept in custody and police said he was involved in a plot to stage an attack at the Cologne Cathedral during the holiday season.
On December 31, police detained three more people, described only as being ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks, in the western German cities of Duisburg, Herne, and Noervenich after uncovering evidence that the three were linked to the Tajik man detained in Wesel.
Police in Austria detained four people in connection with a plan to stage an attack at St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna.
Those detained in Germany and Austria were part of one group that German authorities said intended to carry out terrorist attacks for ISKP.
Abu Muhammad al-Tajiki, the Tajikistan-born suicide bomber whom the ISKP said attacked Kabul’s Sikh temple in June 2022. / Telegram
www.bne.eu