Two attacks by armed gunmen in a matter of hours have sparked serious concern about the security of Australia’s World Cup qualifying fixture against Tajikistan on Tuesday.

Police said a group of gunmen killed four police in Vahdat, 20km east of the capital, Dushanbe, before engaging police again in the small hours of Friday morning in a shootout near Dushanbe airport. Police stepped up security in response to the incident, with an increased presence around the Tajik capital, the central Asian news agency AKI reported.

The unrest reportedly came in response to the beating and subsequent death of a Muslim student in Vahdat earlier this week. The man was targeted by police because of his beard, his family said, although police denied the allegation.

Civil unrest is not uncommon in Tajikistan, although it is relatively rare for it to flare so close to the capital. Central Asian expert Christian Bleuer, a research fellow at the Australian National University, said the incidents made it doubtful whether the the Socceroos match could go ahead.

Context: "Anti-Muslim" police in Tajikistan beat this student for having a beard. He died last night. pic.twitter.com/vb3YcFovqH — Christian Bleuer (@ChristianBleuer) September 4, 2015

“This is not Turkey, where you can have a terrorist attack and then a big international event and tourism at same time,” he said on Twitter. “It really doesn’t sound like a country that can host a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.”

The travel advice on the website of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s urges travellers to Tajikistan to exercise a high degree of caution. A spokeswoman said the department was monitoring the situation.

The Socceroos were scheduled to leave Perth on Friday evening for Dubai, before landing in Dushanbe on Saturday.

The team is set to meet Tajikistan at the Republican Central Stadium in Dushanbe on Tuesday, following their 5-0 victory over footballing minnows Bangladesh in Perth on Thursday.