Shooting Starts Between Kyrgyz, Tajik Border Forces, Kyrgyzstan Says
A shooting erupted between border forces of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on Thursday, the Kyrgyz border service said, adding that the Tajik side used mortars and grenade launchers.Earlier in the day, Bishkek said that forces were put on alert over “tensions” at the border over the Tajik side unilaterally blocking the area that connects two Kyrgyz towns, Batken and Isfara.“However, at around 19:35 [13:35 GMT], the situation worsened due to the use of weapons by the Tajik side against Kyrgyz border units … in the area of Chyr-Dobo area of the Batken region. The main skirmishes between units of the border troops of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are taking place in the areas of Tort-Kocho and Chyr-Dobo. The Tajik side uses mortars and grenade launchers,” the spokesperson of the border service said.The border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan sometimes turns into a conflict zone between local residents and border officers on both sides. The reason for the conflict: non-demarcated areas of where it is impossible to say which of the two countries the land belongs to.
Locals in Kyrgyz villages in the border area with Tajikistan are evacuating after a shooting between border forces of the two Central Asian countries started on Thursday, eyewitnesses said.
“There is an evacuation from the Samarkandyk region to the village of Ravat. Only women and children are being evacuated. The men remain,” the eyewitness said.Three Tajik soldiers were injured during the shooting and were hospitalised to a clinic in Isfara, Sputnik Tajikistan reported.Authorities on both sides are currently involved in negotiations to find out what caused the shooting.
CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas has called for an immediate ceasefire on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, CSTO spokesman Vladimir Zainetdinov said.
Zas held phone conversations with the secretary of the Tajik Security Council, Nasrullo Mahmudzoda, and the secretary of the Kyrgyz Security Council, Marat Imankulov, “during which the CSTO Secretary General called for an immediate ceasefire between the parties on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan,” the spokesman said.
“The renewed clashes on the border, which resulted in injuries, cause serious concern. The armed confrontation on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border must be immediately stopped. The conflict must be resolved exclusively at the negotiating table by peaceful means. For this, the CSTO is ready to provide Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan with the necessary assistance in resolving conflict. I am sure that the leadership of both CSTO member states will find mutually acceptable ways to resolve this complex border issue,” Zas said.
Source: Sputnik
