Shooting breaks out between Tajik, Kyrgyz border guards
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Tajik guards open fire after being asked to relinquish "combat positions" on the border.
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Kyrgyz soldiers guarding a water supply facility outside the village of Kok-Tash near the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border in southwest Kyrgyzstan. (AP)
Shooting broke out between patrol guards on the border between Kyrgystan and Tajikstan on Wednesday, according to Russian news agencies, citing the Kyrgyz border service.
Although recent years have witnessed some back and forth on the border between the two countries, with the latest incident following a round of fighting on Tuesday between two other former Soviet states, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The recent clashes between the two have been the most lethal since 2020's battle in Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to the Kyrgyz border service, Tajik guards opened fire after being asked to relinquish "combat positions" on the border, while Kyrgyz guards used weapons to respond to the request, according to Russia's RIA news agency.
In January, Kyrgyzstan accused Tajikistan of firing on its troops and deploying forces at their contested border.
Kyrgyzstan's national security committee said Tajikistan used grenade launchers and mortar shells in the exchanges, and four Kyrgyz soldiers suffered shrapnel wounds according to a health ministry spokesperson. Media in Tajikistan said the clashes resulted in one death and 11 injuries, three civilians, and eight officers. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan then announced they had reached a ceasefire.
Last year’s shooting between the two countries resulted in more than 50 deaths amid fears of a wider conflict erupting. This latest round of violence came after Tajik citizens blocked a road that passes through Tajik territory and links two Kyrgyz cities.
