The killing of a religious leader in Kyrgyzstan has increased tensions in Russia's Fergana Valley, where radical Islamists and authorities continue fighting.
Mohammed Rafik Kamalov, the popular imam of a mosque in the town of Korasuv, died Aug. 6, reportedly in a shootout between police and the two passengers of his car, who were also killed. Kyrgyzstan authorities allege that the two men were Islamic militants planning terrorist attacks, the Los Angeles Times said Saturday.
In the initial official account of events, Kamalov, a self-proclaimed opponent of violence, was allegedly working secretly with Islamic fighters. But many of his supporters asserted that security forces had killed an innocent man.
Authorities eventually backtracked, saying they did not rule out the possibility that Kamalov had been a hostage.
On Friday, several thousand people turned out for a protest, demanding that the terrorism accusations against Kamalov be dropped and that he be declared a martyr, the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
For years, Kamalov had openly defended the right of Hizb ut-Tahrir members to attend services at his mosque, while criticizing the group's ideology. Hizb ut-Tahrir issued a statement from its London office describing Kamalov's death as an "extrajudicial assassination."