TAJIK GOVERNMENT TROOPS RESUME ALL-OUT OFFENSIVE.

Dushanbe military officials said yesterday that government troops have resumed offensive operations aimed at recapturing Tavildara district, which they lost to the opposition last month. Government troops are also attacking the opposition in the nearby Komsomolabad and Kalay-Khumb districts in central Tajikistan, according to the officials. Expressing confidence that victory is imminent, the Dushanbe officials ruled out any talks on reinstating the ceasefire before recapturing the region.

United Tajik Opposition chairman Saidabdullo Nuri yesterday appealed to U.N. secretary general Boutros-Boutros Ghali to intercede and help stop the fighting. Nuri noted that Dushanbe had unilaterally canceled the ceasefire in initiating the offensive, and that its forces were shelling and bombing opposition-controlled villages. In an apparent attempt to maintain secrecy on the operation, the government turned back an International Red Cross team en route to Tavildara where it was to have picked up a first batch of 26 government soldiers captured by the opposition which offered unilaterally to release them. (Itar-Tass, Interfax, June 3)

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