DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, July 28 (UPI) -- Security police in Tajikistan carried out a deadly raid against a crime ring suspected in the slaying of a general, prosecutors said Saturday.
The raid left at least 17 police officers dead along with 30 suspected militants, although opposition media claimed the death toll was more than 200, Russia's RIA Novosti news service said.
The exact nature of the crime ring was unclear. RIA Novosti said the suspects killed included eight civilians from neighboring Afghanistan.
The group was based in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region and was responsible for ht July 21 assassination of Abdullo Nazarov, chief of the Tajikistan National Security Committee.
The border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan was closed after Nazarov was killed.
