Afghan Intelligence Provides Evidence Of Namangani's Death

The Afghan secret services can, on request, grant evidence of the wanted Uzbek terrorist Djuma Namangani's death in Kunduz during the anti-Taliban operation in Afghanistan, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov said at a press-conference following talks with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov. They are also prepared to exhume the body and help carry out examination in order to identify Djuma Namangani's remains. Fighters under the command of Namangani accounted for the bedrock of the Taliban armed force in the Mazar-i-Sharif, Kunduz and Takhar regions in Northern Afghanistan. Russian press reports indicate that under his real name of Djumbai Kghodjiev, Djuma Namangani served in the airborne troops in Afghanistan and demobilized in 1989. With a certain commando experience to his credit, he returned to Afghanistan in February 1993 to become a member of the armed Islamic group "Tovba (Repentance) seeking to set up an Islamic state after the Shariah pattern in the Fergana valley. Khodjiev has been wanted by Uzbekistan's law-enforcement for having committed a series of crimes, from hold-ups and robberies to contract killings. In Afghanistan, Khodjiev is said to have been trained in mujaheddin camps in the provinces of Takhar and Kunduz.