A hit-and-run driver killed four foreign cyclists in Tajikistan in what may have been a terrorist act, the Central Asian country’s interior minister says.

The tourists, from the United States, Switzerland and the Netherlands, were killed on Sunday, Tajik authorities said. Three more, from Switzerland, the Netherlands and France, were injured – and one of them also had a stab wound.

Security forces pursuing suspects in the attack killed four, including one as he was resisting arrest, and detained a fifth man, the former Soviet republic’s interior ministry said.

“We are looking into all versions – accident, robbery … including a terrorist act,” Interior Minister Ramazon Rakhimzoda told a briefing.

Among the four suspects killed was the owner of the car, which police believe hit the tourists as they were cycling through a rural area 90km southeast of the capital Dushanbe.

A purported video of the incident published online by Radio Free Europe showed a car doing a U-turn on a narrow road after it had already knocked down a group of cyclists and then running over a few of them.

A “wanted” notice disseminated by Tajik authorities named two suspects aged 18 and 19 from the same village close to the Tajik-Afghan border, and a third one, 21, from the town of Nurek located not far from the site of the attack.

The US Embassy said it could not name the two American victims due to privacy concerns, but indicated that it also considered the incident to be an intentional attack.

“We strongly condemn the cruelty of the attackers and recognise that they in no way represent the kindness and hospitality of the Tajik people,” it said in a statement.

Switzerland’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the death of one Swiss national and said it was in contact with the second tourist, who has been injured.

Britain’s Foreign Office urged UK tourists in Tajikistan, particularly those hiking or cycling in its south, “to exercise extreme caution and vigilance during their visit”, citing “the first incident of this kind in Tajikistan”.