Kyrgyzstan Says Death Toll In Clashes With Tajikistan Rises To 13

Umer Jamshaid Published April 30, 2021 | 10:00 AM

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Apr, 2021 ) :Kyrgyzstan said Friday that its death toll in armed clashes with Central Asian rival Tajikistan had reached 13, after the pair agreed a ceasefire following the worst fighting at their disputed border in years.

Kyrgyzstan's health ministry said in a statement that it had suffered 134 casualties "including 13 fatalities", with two of the injured in a serious condition.

Among Kyrgyzstan's casualties was a girl "born in 2008", it added.

Military units from the two countries began exchanging fire on Thursday, but later that day a ceasefire was announced by Kyrgyzstan's foreign ministry from 8:00 pm (1400 GMT), with armed forces returning to their bases.

Tajikistan acknowledged the ceasefire in a statement published by its state information service early on Friday, saying the two sides "came to a mutual agreement to end the armed conflict, to withdraw personnel and military equipment to places of permanent deployment".

The clashes that erupted along the border between the two poor, mountainous countries were the heaviest in years, and had raised fears they might escalate into a wider conflict.

A representative of the police in Kyrgyzstan's Batken region, which borders Tajikistan, told AFP by telephone that shooting had continued during the night "but not intensively".

The police representative did not confirm whether the shooting was between civilians or soldiers. He said that residents of Maksat village had been evacuated during the night.

Tajikistan, a closed authoritarian state, made fewer statements as the clashes unfolded, noting only earlier on Thursday that two citizens had been admitted to hospital, with one in a serious condition.

Border disagreements between three countries that share the fertile Fergana Valley -- Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan -- stem from demarcations made during the Soviet era.

The knotting, twisting frontiers left several communities with restricted access to their home countries.