Azerbaijan has killed five "radical Islamists" and arrested 32 others for allegedly plotting a coup in the oil-rich ex-Soviet country, Interior Minister Ramil Usubov has said.
"During a special operation in the village of Nardaran, 32 radical Islamists were arrested and five were killed," Usubov said in a televised statement last night.
The men were all members of the Movement for Muslim Unity, which allegedly sought to stage a coup and "establish a Sharia state in Azerbaijan", he added.
The group has been active for more than a year in Nardaran, located just outside the capital Baku, Usubov said.
Two policemen and four alleged members of the Movement for Muslim Unity were killed on Saturday in a shootout during a police raid in Nardaran.
The village has been raided repeatedly since Saturday after law enforcement agencies received information that the group was "planning provocations, mass unrest and acts of terror", the interior ministry has said.
Nardaran - one of Azerbaijan's poorest settlements - has a reputation for being a stronghold of conservative Shia Muslims and has been the site of regular anti-government protests.
Shia-majority Azerbaijan is regarded as one of the Muslim world's most secular countries.
