DUSHANBE -- The number of law enforcement victims in what Tajik authorities have called 'an Islamic State (IS) attack' near a border post is seven, five higher than official reports, sources have told RFE/RL.

The State Committee for National Security said earlier that a police officer Bahrom Qosimzoda and a border guard Izatullo Latifiov were killed in the early hours of November 6, after 20 attackers struck the post on the border with Uzbekistan, located 60 kilometers southwest of Dushanbe in the Rudaki district. The attackers came from neighboring Afghanistan, fifteen of whom were killed and five were captured, the officials said then.

However, local authorities and other sources in Dushanbe, the capital, and different parts of the Central Asian nation told RFE/RL on November 8 that at least five more border guards, Dilovar Tolibov, Hofiz Hasanov, Naimjon Saidolimov, Ghanijon Davlat, and an unidentified border guard, who had been killed during the attack, were buried a day earlier.

In September, Tajik authorities said one Tajik border guard was killed during clashes along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border, but regional authorities said later that in fact three border guards lost their lives during the unrest.

The IS group has not confirmed it was behind the November 6 assault. The militants have claimed previous attacks in Tajikistan.

The latest incident took place on Tajikistan's Constitution Day, a national holiday, and as President Emomali Rahmon was out of the country on an official trip to Europe accompanied by about two dozen ministers.

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