There are four women and four military servicemen among persons convicted of an attack on a frontier post in the Roudaki district.

Nine persons, including four women, four military servicemen and a man, have been convicted of the attack on the “Ishqobod” frontier post on the Tajik-Uzbek border in the Roudaki district in November last year, Supreme Court head Shermuhammad Shohiyon told reporters in Dushanbe on July 20.

According to him, they were sentenced to between 2 and 27 years in prison.  

He refrained from giving further details, noting that the case is classified as “top secret.”

Recall, a statement, released by the Interior Ministry on November 6, 2019, says an armed group numbering twenty people in masks attacked the “Ishqobod” frontier post of the “Sultonobod” border unit on the border with Uzbekistan in the Roudaki district, some 60 kilometers southwest of Dushanbe, at 3:23 am of November 6.

During the attack, the unidentified assailants reportedly captured five Kalashnikov assault rifles, according to a statement released by the State Committee for National Security (SCNS).  A border guard and a police officer were reportedly killed in the fighting.

The national news agency Khovar said the attackers came from Qalai Zol district of Afghanistan’s Kunduz province, crossing the border in Qubodiyon district of Khatlon province on November 3.

As a result of an operation carried out by Tajik power-wielding structures, fifteen attackers were killed, while the remaining five attackers were captured, the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) said on November 7.  According to unconfirmed reports, at least one of the assailants was a woman.  

The Interior Ministry reported that four vehicles of the attack group were also destroyed.

The SCNS Main Border Guard Directorate press center said the assailants were members of the Islamic State (IS) terror group.  

An online statement issued by the IS terror group on November 8 reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the IS militants had killed 10 Tajik border guards.

SCNS had previously said that police officer Bahrom Qosimzoda and border guard Izatullo Latifiov were killed in the attack. 

Meanwhile, sources in Dushanbe and sources in other parts of Tajikistan told RFE/RL on November 8 that at least five more border guards were killed in the attack.

The sources reportedly said Dilovar Tolibov, Hofiz Hasanov, Naimjon Saidolimov, Ghanijon Davlat, and an unidentified border guard were buried on November 7.

The incident took place on Tajikistan's Constitution Day, a national holiday, and as President Emomali Rahmon was on a working trip to Europe until November 12.