DUSHANBE -- Authorities in Tajikistan have charged an ousted deputy defense minister who has been on the run since an eruption of deadly violence last week.
The Prosecutor-General's Office said on September 8 that Abduhalim Nazarzoda has been officially charged with high treason, terrorism, sabotage, and creating an extremist group.
Security forces have been searching for Nazarzoda and his followers in the Romit Gorge, some 150 kilometers east of Dushanbe, for several days.
Officials blame them for the September 4 attacks on a police station and an arsenal near the capital, Dushanbe, which killed nine police officers and wounded six others.
Police say security forces have killed 17 members of the "terrorist group" and arrested dozens of others.