Leader of banned extremist group arrested in Tajikistan

ITAR-TASS

DUSHANBE, April 16 (Itar-Tass) - Police have arrested a leader of a banned religious group, Khodi Fattoyev, in a northern region of Tajikistan.

A source in the Interior Ministry told Itar-Tass on Friday that Fattoyev, a former imam of one of mosques, had been charged with organizing a criminal group called Bayat (Accord) and masterminding the murder of one of local administrators.

The group, which professes Wahhabi teachings of a radical Islamic cult, is based in the village of Chorky of the Isphakhan district, where this fundamentalist movement formed two years ago, the source said.

"Arsons of mosques, beatings of dissenters, the murder of the chief of a local Baptist church, Sergei Bessarab, at the beginning of this year are on their conscience," he said.
Police have arrested ten members of the group by now. Its real size is uncertain.

It is known that Bayat has links to several religious extremist groups and parties, including abroad.