Defence Ministry spokesman Faridoon Makhmadaliyev said the "terrorist act" on September 19 had been carried out by militants linked to former warlords who fought against the government in a civil war in the 1990s.

"These are mercenaries of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation who, under the guise of the sacred religion of Islam, are attempting to turn Tajikistan into an arena for feudal wars," he said.

"Twenty-three soldiers, including some officers of the Ministry of Defense and the National Guards, were shot dead yesterday in the Rasht valley."

Tajikistan, a secular but mainly Muslim country which shares a porous 1,340-km border with Afghanistan, is battling growing Islamist radicalism and has imprisoned more than 100 members of banned groups this year alone.

The ambush occurred in the Rasht district, 50 km from Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan and 180 km (110 miles) east of the capital, Dushanbe.

Reuters