All news

Kyrgyzstan’s Border Service reports troops withdrawal from border with Tajikistan

According to the Border Service, the two countries’ law enforcement agencies "are ensuring public order in border areas and are carrying out joint patrolling" of the motor road linking the Tajik cities of Khudzhand and Kanibadam and Jyrgyz settlement of Arka and Borborduk

BISHKEK, September 18. /TASS/. Additional forces and weapons are being withdrawn from the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in line with the agreements between the two countries, the Border Service of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security said on Sunday.

"Under the existing agreements, additional forces and weapons are being withdrawn from the state border to the places of their permanent deployment," it said.

According to the Border Service, the two countries’ law enforcement agencies "are ensuring public order in border areas and are carrying out joint patrolling" of the motor road linking the Tajik cities of Khudzhand and Kanibadam and Jyrgyz settlement of Arka and Borborduk.

It also said that as of 22:00 local time (19:00 Moscow time) the situation at the border sections in the Batken and Osh regions "continues to be tense with a tendency toward stabilization."

The situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border flared up on September 14. The Kyrgyz side said that on Wednesday Tajik border guards had penetrated into a border section near Bulak-Bashy in Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region and "took combat positions." In response to a demand to leave the area, the Tajik border guards opened fire triggering a shootout. Several hours later, armed clashes were reported in the areas of Kak-Sai and Paksy-Aryk. On September 17, Kyrgyzstan’s Border Service said that the Osh section of the border cane under shelling.

The Kyrgyz side reported 59 killed and more than 140 wounded. More than 140,000 people evacuated from Kyrgyz settlements located near the border. An emergencies situation has been declared in the Batken region.