The Tajik law enforcement authorities launched an anti-terrorist operation against an organized criminal group that blocked the Dushanbe-Kulma highway connecting the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) with China, said state news agency Khovar, citing the press center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to the agency, on May 17, in order to destabilize the socio-political situation, members of an organized criminal group illegally blocked the Dushanbe-Kulma international highway in the Rushan district of GBAO, located on the state border line.

The criminals put up armed resistance to the demands of law enforcement officers to hand over their weapons.

“In this regard, in order to ensure the safety of citizens, public order and restore the unhindered movement of vehicles along the Dushanbe-Kulma international highway, an anti-terrorist operation has been launched by the country's law enforcement agencies on a section of the road in the Rushan district,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that with the support of international terrorist organizations, the criminals received weapons and ammunition abroad, and also attracted foreign mercenaries to carry out terrorist attacks and other forms of provocation directed against the foundations of the constitutional order.

"In the activities of organized criminal groups in the Rushan region, created and financed by international terrorist organizations, there are signs of crimes of a terrorist nature," the press service notes.