The border conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajik escalated using heavy weapons

BISHKEK (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan accused each other on Friday of using tanks and mortars in an escalating border conflict that has killed at least three people and wounded 27 since fighting broke out two days ago.

The border guards of Kyrgyzstan said that Tajik forces opened fire again on a number of their outposts in the early hours of Friday morning in a disputed mountainous border area. It added that the Tajik forces used tanks, armored personnel carriers and mortars. Read more

She added that the Tajik forces then entered at least one Kyrgyz village and bombed the airport of the Kyrgyz town of Batkin and the surrounding areas.

In turn, Tajikistan accused Kyrgyz forces of bombing a settlement outpost and seven villages with “heavy weapons” in the same region, which is famous for its ethno-linguistic geography and became the site of similar hostilities last year, almost leading to war.

Authorities in the Tajik city of Asfara said one civilian was killed and three wounded. Kyrgyzstan reported that 31 people were injured overnight in the southern Batken province which borders northern Tajikistan’s Sughd region and includes Tajikistan’s Vorokh region, a major hotspot in recent conflicts.

Kyrgyz authorities said they were evacuating nearby villages as “heavy fighting” continued.

The Bishkek government said the foreign ministers of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan had discussed the matter, but the border guards said two ceasefire deals had already failed.

Kyrgyzstan President Sadir Gabarov and Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon attend the Regional Security Summit in Uzbekistan and neither of them mentioned the conflict in their speeches at the event.

Clashes over the poorly demarcated border between the two former Soviet republics are frequent, but usually decline quickly, although in the past year they have almost led to an all-out war.

Both host Russian military bases and have close ties to Moscow, which has called for a cessation of hostilities this week.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Russia-led security bloc that includes Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, said its leadership was in contact with the two governments on Friday.

(Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko) Additional reporting by Nazarali Bernazarov in Dushanbe; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Guy Faulconbridge, Frank Jack Daniel and Raju Gopalakrishnan

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