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Renewed Clashes Reported At Kyrgyz-Tajik Border

By RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, RFE/RL's Tajik Service September 16, 2022

Fresh clashes have erupted at the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on September 16, with both sides accusing each other of using heavy weaponry in fighting that has killed at least three people and wounded 27 since it broke out two days ago.

The Kyrgyz border guard service accused Tajik soldiers of again opening fire on several of its outposts early on September 16 in a disputed mountainous frontier area with Tajik forces using tanks, armored personnel carriers, and mortars.

Tajikistan in turn accused Kyrgyz forces of bombarding an outpost and seven villages with "heavy weaponry" in the same area.

RFE/RL sources said that at 10 a.m. local time clashes continued along several sections of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border.

A civilian was killed and three injured, authorities in the Tajik city of Isfara said. Kyrgyzstan reported 18 wounded overnight in its southern Batken Province, which borders Tajikistan's northern Sughd region and features a Tajik exclave, Vorukh, a key hotspot in recent conflicts.

The accounts could not be immediately verified.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon are both attending a regional security summit in Uzbekistan.

Kyrgyzstan said its foreign minister discussed the clashes with his Tajik counterpart, but the border guard service said two truces have already collapsed.

The governors of the Kyrgyz and Tajik provinces adjacent to the border were scheduled to meet at a border crossing, Kyrgyz border guards said.

The head of Kyrgyzstan's state security service was also in contact with his Tajik counterpart, the Kyrgyz side said, adding that the intensity of firing was diminishing.

Almost half of the 970-kilometer Kyrgyz-Tajik border has yet to be demarcated, leading to repeated tensions and sporadic deadly clashes since the two countries gained independence three decades ago.

Both Central Asian nations host Russian military bases and have close ties with Moscow, which urged a cessation of hostilities this week.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/renewed-clashes- reported-kyrgyz-tajik-border/32036457.html

Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.