Iran denies link to deadly Tajikistan attack

Iran today denied accusations by Tajikistan police that it was partly responsible for an attack that killed four tourists in the former Soviet republic.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran denies any link with this terrorist attack and categorically denies that there is any military base to train terrorists inside Iran," said foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi, quoted by the Mehr news agency.

"We condemn all terrorist acts all over the world, including the recent attack on foreign tourists in Tajikistan," he said.

Two Americans, a Dutch and a Swiss citizen were killed Sunday about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the capital Dushanbe after being struck by a car and attacked on a popular cycling route.

The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility but this was rejected by Tajikistan police, who blamed a banned Islamist opposition party that it said had undergone "military sabotage" training in Iran.

Ghasemi condemned the "baseless" allegations and said Iran was "ready to cooperate with officials of Tajikistan to shed light on this dark attack".