Eight police officers and nine alleged militants were killed in two shootouts in Tajikistan on Friday that the government blamed on the deputy defence minister and the Islamic opposition.

An armed group killed four police in a morning shootout in the provincial town of Vahdat after another four officers were killed on the outskirts of the capital Dushanbe. "The terrorist group was led by deputy defence minister Abduhalim Nazarzoda," a police spokesman told AFP.