DUSHANBE A land mine blast killed six soldiers in Tajikistan, authorities said on Thursday, the latest losses in an operation targeting suspected militants in the impoverished nation that borders Afghanistan.

At least three other solders were wounded in the explosion on Wednesday in Tajikistans Rasht valley, a high-ranking military official said on condition of anonymity.

The mine blast occurred hours after the crash of a military helicopter in the same area that military sources said killed 28 servicemen. Officials said the crash was an accident.

Tajik government forces thrust into the Rasht district on September 22 in a strike against insurgents blamed by state security officials for an attack on a convoy of government forces that killed 28 soldiers three days earlier.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), whose exiled members have fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan, later claimed responsibility for the convoy attack, calling it retaliation for a government crackdown on Islam.

Government authorities said on Tuesday that six soldiers and 16 insurgents had been killed to date in Rasht, about 180 km east of the capital, Dushanbe.

Analysts say chronic poverty and a Soviet-style crackdown on religion have spurred the growth of radical Islam in Tajikistan and former Soviet republics in mostly Muslim Central Asia.

Long-time President Imomali Rakhmons government has jailed more than 100 members of banned groups this year in its battle against radicalism. Critics say the government exaggerates the threat as a pretext to target opponents.