5 soldiers killed in Tajikistan ambush

Unidentified men opened fire on a column of troops in Tajikistan on Sunday, killing at least five servicemen, a government source told Reuters. The troops had gone to reinforce roadblocks in the north of the Muslim country, which shares a border with Afghanistan, a month after prisoners including organizers of an alleged coup plot escaped a detention centre in the capital Dushanbe.

"(They were there) in case fugitives appeared," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. At least five troops were killed in the attack in the Rasht region near Tajikistan's border with Kyrgyzstan. (Reuters)