KHUJAND, October 16, 2013, Asia-Plus -- Three residents of the Tajik northern province of Sughd have been arrested on suspicion of being members of the outlawed Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).

According to the Sughd organized crime control directorate (RUBOP), two of them – F.M., 30, and D.Z., 30 – were arrested in the Asht district and the third one – A.E., 27 – was arrested at the Khujand airport after arriving from Russia.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against the alleged IMU members under the provisions of Article 187 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – organization of criminal group; an investigation is under way.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) is a militant Islamist group formed in 1991 by the Islamic ideologue Tahir Yuldashev, and former Soviet paratrooper Juma Namangani -- both ethnic Uzbeks from the Fergana Valley. Its objective was to overthrow President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, and to create an Islamic state under Sharia.

Operating out of bases in Tajikistan and Taliban-controlled areas of northern Afghanistan, the IMU launched a series of raids into southern Kyrgyzstan in 1999 and 2000.  However, in 2001 the IMU was largely destroyed while fighting alongside the Taliban against coalition forces in Afghanistan.  Namangani was killed, and the IMU''s remaining fighters were dispersed.  Yuldashev and an unknown number of fighters escaped with remnants of the Taliban to Waziristan in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan.  On September 30, 2009, a man, who claimed to be Yuldashev''s bodyguard, reported to the Pakistan newspaper The News International that Yuldashev was killed in a US Predator drone airstrike shortly after Mehsud''s death.  The United States and Pakistan officials afterwards confirmed Yuldashev was killed in an airstrike on August 27, 2009.  Yuldashev reportedly lost a leg and arm in the drone missile strike on August 27, 2009 and was rushed to a hospital in Zhob in Baluchistan, but died the next day. His death was formally announced by the IMU on August 16, 2010.