Islamic State claimed that one of its ‘fighters’ was behind a prison riot in Tajikistan in which 27 were killed, including prison guards.
KHUJAND, TAJIKISTAN – The remit of Islamic State (ISIS) is truly quite broad, the destruction of the Caliphate notwithstanding.
I am going to bet that most of my readers could not find Tajikistan on a map. Wait, that is not fair. I imagine many of my readers are quite savvy, highly educated and, as people interested in terrorism – otherwise why would you be here – probably have heard of that nation and CAN find it on a map.
Tajikistan is a Central Asian country which was once part of the greater Soviet Union. Unlike its immediate neighbours (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, etc.), its population do not speak a Turkic language but rather a tongue quite close to Farsi, the national language of Iran.
The country does not cross the radar of Western media very often which is too bad, for when it comes to terrorism it is of some importance. Its territory has played host to some Islamist terrorist groups that have been active elsewhere: it happens to have contributed some of the highest numbers of ISIS fighters per capita.
On occasion, however, it has been on the receiving end of terrorist attacks.
Take this day in 2018. A riot broke out in a prison in Khujand after an ISIS supporter attacked a prison guard. When the riot ended 27 people were dead, including two guards.
ISIS claimed the attack, saying that the instigator was ‘one of them’: it seems that the other prisoners were sympathetic to the terrorist group. They had been convicted of ‘religious extremism and terrorism’.
The bottom line is that ISIS continues to have influence around the globe. The group is channeling its internal Mark Twain: “Rumours of our death are greatly exaggerated”.
