DUSHANBE, November 9, 2010, Asia-Plus -- Rescuers from the Committee for Emergency Situations and Civil Defense (CES) found the body of Dilovar Talbakov, an officer from the special operations unit, Alpha, of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) in the Surkhob River Sunday morning, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on November 7.

The same day the body of Dilovar Talbakov was transported to his native town, Kulob.

The search operation for the body of the last of six Alpha officers that were reported missing is going on.

We will recall that six Alpha officers were reported missing after they fell into the Surkhob River when the Russian-built MI-8 of the National Guard went down in Kamarob Gorge in Rasht district in early October.

As it had been reported earlier, the body of Warrant Officer Suhrob Mirzoyev was found in the river on October 31 and the bodies of three other Alpha officers were found in the Surkhob River on October 27.

Seven National Guard personnel and 19 servicemen of the SCNS special operations unit, Alpha, were killed and one serviceman of the SCNS special operations unit was seriously injured after the National Guard helicopter crashed in Rasht district on October 6.  According to the official data, the crash was apparently caused by a technical problem.  It was the second reported crash of a military helicopter in Rasht during the ongoing military operation in the area.

Tajik government forces launched a special operation to apprehend former opposition fighters in Rasht on September 22 following an ambush in Kamarob Gorge on September 19, in which at least 28 army conscripts were killed.