Three students of one of vocational-and-technical schools located in the northern Sughd province have been detained on suspicion of having contacts with the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

According to the Tajik law enforcement authorities, they were keeping in touch with IS representatives via Internet.

“Three young men, aged 17 to 20, were receiving homemade bomb-making instructions from the IS militants via Internet,” a reliable source at one of Tajik law enforcement agencies told Asia-Plus in an interview.

According to him, they were detained by security officers on October 26.  The source refrained from giving further details of the case.      

According to Tajik authorities, more than 1,000 Tajik nationals are fighting alongside IS militants in Syria and Iraq.  Over the last eighteen months, 155 Tajik nationals have been returned home.  133 of them were reportedly fighting alongside IS militants.