DUSHANBE, September 16. /TASS/. Kyrgyzstan’s armed forces resumed shelling of Tajik settlements located near the border between the two states, despite the recent ceasefire agreement, the press center of the Tajik border troops said on Friday.
"Despite the ceasefire declared after a meeting between the chiefs of the law enforcement agencies, Kyrgyzstan resumed shelling in the direction of the villages of Ovchi-Kalacha, Vorukha and Chorkukh, and the city of Isfara from crew-served weapons and military hardware some 90 minutes later," it said.
According to the Tajik border service, the Kyrgyz side "is deploying additional forces and weapons to the border area."
Earlier on Friday, Tajik and Kyrgyz Presidents, Emomali Rakhmon and Sadyr Japarov, agreed a ceasefire at their meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand. They spoke for political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict and agreed to set up a commission to probe into the armed conflict.
Armed clashes between Tajik and Kyrgyz border guards involving the use of heavy weapons broke out on Friday morning along the entire shared border between the two states.
The situation at the Tajik-Kyrgyz border escalated back in the morning on September 14, when, according to the Tajik State Committee on National Defense, Kyrgyz border guards opened fire from mortars and submachine guns at the Kekh border outpost of the Isfara Tajik unit. The Tajik side retaliated the fire.