Tajikistan: Moscow Police Arrest Alleged Islamic Militants

Police in Moscow say they have arrested three alleged members of the Islamic Party of Turkestan, a purported faction of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

According to Russian news reports, the group's ringleader, a 33-year-old Tajik citizen, has been the subject of an interstate search since March 2009.

"The Russian Interior Ministry's Department for the Suppression of Extremism, the Criminal Investigation Department and the traffic police seized three active members of the terrorist organization Islamic Party of Turkestan," the Interior Ministry said in a statement released on November 23.

"Materials supplied from Tajikistan prove the involvement of the detainees in the recruitment of militants for terrorism and acts of sabotage in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan," the statement added.