Major fighting has been reported in Tajikistan's remote eastern region of Gorno-Badakhshan following the death of a security forces official.

At least 12 soldiers have been killed in the military operation against local opposition strongman Tolib Ayombekov, reports say. Local security official Abdullo Nazarov was stabbed to death on Saturday.

A hospital official in the Tajik capital Dushanbe - where some of those injured have been treated - told the BBC's Central Asian Service that more than 200 people were killed on Tuesday.

The dead included more than 100 military personnel and about 100 civilians, he said.

The official - who did want to be named - said that about 60 people were injured in the violence.

Security forces say they decided to use force after Ayombekov refused to surrender.

Ayombekov was a member of the opposition which fought against the government during Tajikistan's civil war in the 1990s.

The operation is yet another attempt by the Tajik government, which has little influence in the area, to bring Gorno-Badakhshan under its full control. However, it remains a base for former rebel fighters.

A former Soviet republic, Tajikistan plunged into civil war almost as soon as it became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. It is Central Asia's poorest nation.