At least eight policemen and nine militants were killed in Tajikistan on Friday in attacks authorities have blamed on forces loyal to the newly-sacked deputy defence minister. <br /><br /> A government building was among the scenes of violence which prompted the US embassy in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, to shut.<br /><br /> A statement on its website said armed gunmen had clashed with Tajik police early on Friday in the city and that the incidents “may be precursors to other acts of violence”. <br /><br /> Tajikistan’s interior ministry blamed the attacks in Dushanbe and the adjacent city of Vahdat on a “terrorist group” it said had seized arms and ammunition. <br /><br /> Disaffected minister Major General Abdulkhalim Mirzo Nazarzod <br />of the opposition Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan is being held responsible.<br /><br /> A former opposition militiaman, he was brought into the Tajik armed forces under a 1997 peace deal.<br /><br /> The Central Asian nation of 8 million – the poorest ex-Soviet state – is still volatile after a 1992-97 civil war that killed tens of thousands.
