Tajik ex-minister killed by militants: Authorities

Authorities in Tajikistan say a former rebel leader and government minister has been killed by members of a militant group he allegedly joined recently in the Central Asian nation.

Authorities in Tajikistan say a former rebel leader and government minister has been killed by members of a militant group he allegedly joined recently in the Central Asian nation.

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Interior Ministry official Ramazon Rakhimov told reporters on Sunday that Mirzo Ziyoyev surrendered to government forces Saturday, and agreed to help track down the militants he had allegedly joined. But Rakhimov said other members of the militant group attacked the government forces Ziyoyev was with later Saturday and killed him.

Several police and security troops were wounded. Ziyoyev was an Islamic rebel leader in Tajikistan's civil war in the 1990s. He later headed the Emergency Service Ministry as part of a power-sharing agreement.