Four members of a militant Islamist group have been killed in a shootout with police in Tajikistan, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Monday.

He said four members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan were killed and one detained in a special operation in the north of the country, RIA Novosti reported.

One riot police officer was injured.

The spokesman did not say when the operation took place.

The group is suspected of committing a number of grave crimes, including the killing of a senior police officer in the city of Isfara in mid-September.