Four cyclists including two Americans were killed over the weekend when a car rammed into them in a hit-and-run accident in Tajikistan, sparking a manhunt for the driver that led to police killing two men resisting arrest, officials said Monday.
Tajikistan’s Interior Ministry said it was holding one suspect and three others for potential involvement in “the collision and killing of foreign citizens” after a Daewoo sedan plowed into a group of seven foreign cyclists about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the Tajik capital Dushanbe on Sunday.
Two Americans died in the incident in the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation, the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan said on Facebook. The Swiss Foreign Ministry said a third victim of the accident was a Swiss national. It was unclear where the fourth victim was from.
Three other cyclists in the group, including a Swiss woman, sustained injuries and sought medical help, according to Tajik and Swiss officials.
The U.S. Embassy did not disclose further details due to privacy concerns.
Swiss Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Silvia Mueller said that Swiss authorities are in contact with Tajik officials and that while the circumstances of the incident are still unclear, the Swiss government’s travel advice for Tajikistan notes the risk of attacks and the bad road traffic situation in the country. “Should it turn out to have been a terrorist act, this would be recorded in the travel advice,” she said.
