Tajik official denies that Tajik citizen detained in Uzbekistan - terrorist

Abdurakhim Kahharov, a deputy Tajik interior minister, said that Uzbek claims that Murodullo Juraev, who was arrested in southern Uzbekistan, had planned to organize terror attacks in Tajikistan and assassinate people on Uzbek territory were "a pure provocation and lie."

Photo: Tajik official denies that Tajik citizen detained in Uzbekistan - terrorist

A report in the Uzbek government press agency on Thursday said that Juraev was a convicted drug-dealer released by the ministry after agreeing to undergo special training in the Varzob region and cross into neighboring Uzbekistan to conduct killings and also stage terror attacks in Tajikistan.

Relations between the two Central Asian states have remained tense since Tajikistan's 1992-1997 civil war between its secular government and Islamic opposition, when the Uzbek government closed its 1,370-kilometer (850-mile) border to prevent violence from spilling over, according to the AP.

Earlier this month, Tajik courts sentenced two Uzbek citizens to 13 years in prison for spying for Uzbekistan and illegally crossing the Tajik border.