23 Tajik soldiers killed in 'terrorist attack'

DUSHANBE: Twenty-three Tajik soldiers were killed Sunday in an attack by "Islamist terrorists" in the east of the Central Asian country, a defence ministry spokesman told a foreign news agency.

"Twenty-three defence ministry troops are dead and another 10 were wounded in a terrorist attack committed in the afternoon in the east of Tajikistan," said spokesman Faridun Makhmadaliyev.

"The attack was committed by two groups of Islamist terrorists," he added.