MOSCOW (AP) — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a weekend attack on Western tourists in Tajikistan that left four people killed.

A car rammed into a group of cyclists south of the Tajik capital Dushanbe on Sunday. The driver then joined the passengers in attacking the tourists with knives, leaving four dead and three injured.

Authorities in the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation had said terrorism was a possible motive.

In a statement late Monday the Islamic State said that a group of its soldiers attacked the "citizens of the Crusader coalition."

The Islamic State group usually refers to the U.S.-led coalition that is fighting it in Syria and Iraq as crusaders.

The statement did not say how many militants took part in the attack.