In Tajikistan, Islamist militants have killed 23 soldiers in an attack in the east of the country. Official sources say a military convoy was ambushed in Racht valley about 250 kilometres east of the capital Dushanbe. The soldiers were going to replace guards at roadblocks set up after at least 25 militants escaped from a prison on the Afghan border last month. In the 1990s Tajikistan had a civil war between the Moscow-backed government and the Islamist-led opposition.