NINE people have been detained in Tajikistan over suspected contact with the perpetrators of last week’s terrorist attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said today.

“Nine residents of the Vakhdat district were detained for contact with the persons who committed the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall on March 22,” the agency reported, citing information from an unnamed source in Tajikistan’s special services, who said that Russian security forces were also involved in the operation to detain the suspects.

Those detained are also suspected of having connections with the Islamic State group, according to RIA Novosti.