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Tajik Town Protests Killing

Anti-government demonstrators in an eastern Tajikistan town where troops fired on protesters began erecting tents in the town square Thursday, saying they will stage a sit-in until government troops brought in to contain unrest withdraw.

Troops opened fire Wednesday on a crowd that was demanding an explanation for the killing of an influential local leader, Imumnazar Imumnazarov, a former warlord. Witnesses say two people were injured.

Imumnazarov's killing is threatening to upset a peace deal that quelled violence that broke out last month, when clashes between troops and local armed groups in the Gorno-Badakhshan province, bordering Afghanistan, left about 50 people dead.

(AP)

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