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Death toll of Friday shooting incident at Khorog checkpoint goes up to 2

The regional prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case

DUSHANBE, August 12 (Itar-Tass) —— The death toll of the Friday shooting incident at a checkpoint in Khorog, the administrative center of the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan, has grown to two. A regional customs officer died at the hospital, the regional police told Itar-Tass on Sunday.

A driver ignored the checkpoint servicemen’s demand to stop in the Khorog vicinity on August 10. The servicemen fired into the air as a warning at first and opened fire for effect later. One person on the car died instantly and three incurred heavy injuries. One of them died at the hospital.

The regional prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case. There was a spontaneous rally in Khorog on Saturday demanding to punish the servicemen and to withdraw governmental forces from the city. The army and law enforcers were deployed in Khorog after the July 21 murder of Tajik security service General Abdullo Nazarov. They killed 30 militants and captured another 40. Governmental forces’ casualties were officially reported at 17. Human rights defenders said 18 civilians died in the operation.

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