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Iran denies link to deadly Tajikistan attack
TEHRAN, July 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Iran on Tuesday denied accusations by
Tajikistan police that it was partly responsible for an attack that killed
four tourists in the former Soviet republic.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran denies any link with this terrorist attack
and categorically denies that there is any military base to train terrorists
inside Iran,” said foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi, quoted by the
Mehr news agency.
“We condemn all terrorist acts all over the world, including the recent
attack on foreign tourists in Tajikistan,” he said.
Two Americans, a Dutch and a Swiss citizen were killed Sunday about 100
kilometres (60 miles) from the capital Dushanbe after being struck by a car
and attacked on a popular cycling route.
The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility but this was
rejected by Tajikistan police, who blamed a banned Islamist opposition party
that it said had undergone “military sabotage” training in Iran.
Ghasemi condemned the “baseless” allegations and said Iran was “ready to
cooperate with officials of Tajikistan to shed light on this dark attack”.
BSS/AFP/RY/1924 hrs