Explosion near Tajikistan highest court

Explosion near the building of Tajikistan's highest court.There were no reports of injuries.

Photo: Explosion near Tajikistan highest court

Explosion near Tajikistan highest court

Kurbanali Mukhabbatov, the chief prosecutor in the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation's capital, said that the type of the explosive device and possible motives behind the blast near the Supreme Court's building were not immediately clear.

The explosion marked a rare act of violence in the impoverished nation bordering Afghanistan which has enjoyed a relative stability in recent years after a devastating civil war.

The 1992-1997 war between a hardline secular government and mostly Islamic opposition claimed an estimated 100,000 lives and left the nation's economy in shambles. A U.N.-brokered power-sharing agreement between President Emomali Rakhmon and his foes ended hostilities.

Rakhmon worked methodically to strengthen his grip on the nation's political landscape, driving both former opponents and loyalists out of the government and subduing the opposition.

Rakhmon won a third term as president last November by landslide in a vote last November which was boycotted by opposition parties and criticized by foreign observers as lacking competition.