Touring cyclists killed

[Charlie Polecat]

Four foreign cyclists killed after a car hit them in Tajikistan on Sunday may have been victims of a deliberate attack, local officials say.

Two Americans, a Swiss and a Dutch citizen died on Sunday in the Danghara district, some 70km (43 miles) south-east of the capital Dushanbe.

Three tourists were also injured by the car, whose occupants then drove off.

Two people suspected of involvement in the incident were later killed, Tajik officials say.

Shame we can't do more of this to cretins in Britain when cyclists are killed by motorists.

[αdαmsκι]

It is not a shame. Surely it would be better to live in a country where cyclists aren't killed in RTAs in the first place?

Also, your quote says "two people suspected .... were later killed".  Personally I'm fine living in a country in which the criminal system tries to establish the truth before deciding on a (none capital) sentence rather than killing people who are suspected of a crime.

[Hot Flatus]

I don't think Charlie has the intellect to understand that the killing of the cyclists and the killing of the suspects are two sides of the same coin.

[Charlie Polecat]

Flatus, you've always been rude, and your comments correspond to your presumed full name: Flatulent

[nobby]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/four-foreign-cyclists-dead-in-tajikstan-attack-p7z9gmz52

They were attacked with the car, a firearm and knife. Some were reported as stabbed to death.
Some suspects killed while resisting arrest others arrested.

[toontra]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/four-foreign-cyclists-dead-in-tajikstan-attack-p7z9gmz52

Behind a paywall.

[Hot Flatus]

Flatus, you've always been rude, and your comments correspond to your presumed full name: Flatulent

Yes, the forum name is an entirely intentional self-deprecating joke.  Of course, there will always be the very occasional person that fails to realise this, and of course it had to be you 

Something tells me you are the sort of person who watches a sci-fi movie and then criticises it for being unrealistic...

[Jaded]

Four cyclists — two Americans, a Swiss and a Dutch citizen — have been killed in an apparent hit-and-run followed by a knife attack in Tajikistan, with police saying terrorism is among the possible motives.

Three more cyclists — from Switzerland, the Netherlands and France — were injured in the incident involving a Daewoo Leganza. One of them reportedly has a stab wound.


“We are looking into all versions — accident, robbery . . . including a terrorist act,” Ramazon Rakhimzoda, the interior minister, told a briefing.

“The driver and passengers of a car that hit the foreign tourists got out of the car and attacked [the cyclists] with a firearm and a knife,” he added, according to Radio Free Europe’s Tajik Service.

Regional doctors said the dead victims had knife wounds.

There were conflicting reports about the aftermath of the collision at 3.30pm on Sunday in Khatlon province. At least one and possibly four people from “the group that carried out the crime” were killed after resisting arrest, police said.

The owner of the vehicle was named as Dzhafariddin Yusupov, 21, from the city of Nurek in Khatlon. One person was detained, although it was unclear if it was Yusupov. Three others were detained later and another three suspects were killed today, the Avesta news agency reported.

The four dead victims were not immediately identified. Three died at the scene and the fourth passed away in hospital. The other three tourists from the group of seven were said to have been only lightly injured.

Photographs from the scene showed one bloodied cyclist sprawled on the ground and another apparently receiving treatment for a back wound from a person wearing latex gloves. In another image three mountain bicycles fitted with front and rear panniers and water bottles could be seen lying on a verge.

The interior ministry said the incident had taken place in Sebiston in Dangara district, a rural area about 55 miles southeast of the capital, Dushanbe. Police located the car thought to have been involved in the collision.

Tajikistan is a poor, former Soviet state in Central Asia which has seen outbreaks of violence in recent years amid a crackdown on conservative Muslims.

President Rahmon sent telegrams expressing his condolences to President Trump of the United States, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Alain Berset, president of the Swiss Confederation.

He told Mr Trump that Tajik authorities were doing everything they could to bring the perpetrators of the “vicious act” to justice.

[Heat]

I am planning a cycling trip from Africa to Europe and back, this kind of news is not the best to hear.

[jsabine]

I'd venture to suggest that if you're planning a jaunt from Africa to Europe (especially with your point of arrival in Spain), then getting anywhere near any of the 'Stans would mean you were a little off course.