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Kyrgyz border guards continue heightened security patrols

Currently, the situation on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan "is characterized as stable," the State National Security Committee said

BISHKEK, May 5. /TASS/. Kyrgyz border guards stationed on the border with Tajikistan continue patrolling the area in a heightened security mode, the Border Guard Service of the republic’s State National Security Committee reported on Wednesday.

"The units and formations of the Border Guard Service of the State National Security Committee stationed in the Batken Region continue their service in an enhanced mode. The border guard teams are carrying out patrols along the entire Kyrgyz-Tajik state border," the statement says.

Currently, the situation on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan "is characterized as stable," the State National Security Committee said.

State National Security Committee Chief Kamchybek Tashiyev and Border Guard Service Director Ularbek Sharsheyev are touring and inspecting the border infrastructure facilities damaged in the course of the recent armed clashes, the statement says.

The situation on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan near the Golovnoy water intake facility, which each side considers as its own territory, escalated on April 28, after skirmishes had sparked between residents of the two countries’ border areas. On April 29, armed clashes between Kyrgyz and Tajik servicemen broke out.

Kyrgyzstan accused Tajikistan of using machine guns, mortars and Mi-24 combat helicopters in the clashes. On the evening of April 29, the sides agreed to a ceasefire and the pullout of troops, however, hostilities continued periodically in certain locations until May 1.

According to the Kyrgyz Health Ministry, 36 Kyrgyz residents were killed and 153 others injured in the armed conflict, most of them civilians. A total of 129 one-storey houses and 84 other facilities, including a school, a fire-fighting unit, a kindergarten, a police station, four border guard posts, 27 filling stations and a library were burnt or damaged during the hostilities. About 40,000 civilians were evacuated from the conflict zone in total. Some of them have already returned home.