DUSHANBE, October 19 (RIA Novosti) - A local leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan in Tajikistan has been sentenced to life in prison, a spokesman for Tajik prosecutors said on Monday.

Anvar Kaumov and his five accomplices were charged with the murders of at least nine border guards and police officers. The spokesman said the trial finished late last wek.

Kaumov's accomplices have been sentenced up to 11 years imprisonment.

It was reported earlier on Monday that four Islamic militants had been killed and one arrested in a shootout with Tajik police carrying out a special operation. One of the officers was also injured.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is suspected of committing a number of serious crimes, including the killing of a senior police officer in the city of Isfara in mid-September.

The group supports Taliban militants in Afghanistan and is considered to be a terrorist movement by the United States, Russia and Central Asian republics.