Tajikistan's chief mufti injured in attack, interior ministry says

Tajikistan's chief mufti injured in attack, interior ministry says

Tajikistan's top Muslim cleric Sayeedmukarram Abduqodirzoda was injured in an attack outside a central mosque in the capital Dushanbe on Wednesday, the interior ministry said.

The ministry said a person with "hooligan motives" had stabbed Abduqodirzoda following a prayer service at a mosque.

He suffered minor injuries and was released after a medical examination, the ministry said. Authorities detained the attacker and have opened a criminal case into the incident, it added.

Abduqodirzoda, 61, has served as chairman of the country's highest Islamic institution, the Islamic Council of Ulema, since 2010, according to his official biography.

Tajikistan is a land-locked country of some 10 million people sandwiched between Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. The majority of Tajiks are adherents of the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam.