Moscow/ Ashghabat, Turkmenistan - The president of the Central Asian state of Turkmenistan Tuesday ordered the creation of an anti-terrorist unit after weekend clashes in the capital.

President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov confirmed that security officers were killed, but without saying how many, in overnight fights Saturday.

Independent websites and Russian media cited up to 20 dead and said the clashes were between security forces and Islamic rebels.

But officials in the authoritarian state said the battle was a crackdown on drug traffickers from neighbouring Afghanistan. Local media had limited reporting of the fighting.

"Our forces eliminated a major criminal gang involved in the drugs trade ... There were irreplaceable losses among law enforcement agents during the clashes," Berdymukhammedov was quoted as saying in the first official acknowledgement of the deaths, news agency Interfax reported.

The opposition website Gundogar. org said Islamic radicals were involved in the fighting with security forces.

Russian web portal Gazeta reported witnesses as saying they saw armored personnel carriers in the streets blocked off where the clashes took place.

The timing of the Turkmen president's announcement on the creation of an anti-terrorist force was out of tune with official reports that the weekend fighting was an operation against drug traffickers.

"There will be no mercy on those who encroach on a peace and quiet of life in Turkmenistan," Berdymuhammedov said in the nationally televised statement Tuesday.

The small muslim nation has remained stable in recent years despite the conflict in neighboring Afghanistan and the government has held a firm reign since the Soviet collapse in 1991.

The European Union is interested in the country's stability as Turkmenistan is key to an EU plans for a gas pipeline to import Caspian oil and gas while bypassing Russia. (dpa)