Suicide blast at Tajik police office injures 25

[September 03, 2010]  DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) -- A suicide car bomb blast on Friday tore through police offices in Tajikistan's second-largest city, injuring 25 people, local officials said.

Tajikistan's Deputy Interior Minister Sharif Nazarov told The Associated Press the car filled with explosives hit the offices of the police organized-crime division in Khujand at 8 a.m. Friday morning.

The suicide bomber drove his car into the office compound's gates when another vehicle was leaving. No deaths have been reported so far apart from the bomber.

Tajikistan's top investigators are to fly to Khujand to probe the attack.

Impoverished Tajikistan is plagued by crime. The country bordering northern Afghanistan is one of the main conduits for smuggling Afghan opium and heroin.

[Associated Press; By OLGA TUTUBALINA]

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