Poisoned Champagne Kills 10 in Tajikistan
Champagne, probably spiked with cyanide, has killed up to 10 New Year’s revelers in the former Soviet Central Asian republic of Tajikistan, Itar-Tass news agency said Monday.
Reports from the region quoted military sources in Dushanbe as saying the dead included six Russian servicemen, the wife of a Russian Embassy employee and three local residents.
The alcohol had been on sale next to military compounds housing some of the 25,000-strong Russian-led peacekeeping force propping up the government against rebels across the border in Afghanistan, the news agency said.
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