* Clashes continue as counter-attack goes on - report
* Analysts say crackdown on Islam breeds insurgency
DUSHANBE, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Five Tajik servicemen and two rebels have been killed in clashes in the last two days as the Central Asian nation's government continued its counter-attack on Islamic militants, a local news agency reported on Monday.
Government forces thrust into eastern Tajikistan on Sept. 22 in a counter-strike on insurgents responsible for an attack three days earlier that killed 28 soldiers.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), whose exiled members have fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan, later claimed responsibility for the attack on Tajik troops, saying this was in retaliation for a government crackdown on Islam.
Citing an anonymous police source, privately owned Tajik news agency Asia-Plus reported on Monday that a police officer had been killed during a shootout with the rebels on Sunday.
It said four policemen had been killed and one seriously wounded on Monday. It also said two rebels had been killed.
Tajik officials declined to confirm or deny the report.
The latest death toll of the ongoing counter-strike, combined with earlier reports, brings losses among Tajik troops to five dead. Eleven rebels have been killed in the operation.
Analysts say chronic poverty and a Soviet-style crackdown on religion have spurred the growth of radical Islam in Tajikistan and other parts of Central Asia.
Instability in Tajikistan adds to volatility in the fertile but impoverished Ferghana valley, where tension was brought to the boil by ethnic clashes in adjacent Kyrgyzstan in June. (Reporting by Roman Kozevnikov; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Charles Dick)
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