Kyrgyzstan Records Escalation On Border With Tajikistan

BISHKEK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th June, 2021) The situation on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has deteriorated once again after Tajik forces were detected entering the Kyrgyz territory, the Kyrgyz State Border Service told Sputnik on Friday.

"The Tajik side, violating all the previously reached agreements of the intergovernmental delegations of the parties on the delimitation and demarcation of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, on 4.06.2021, at about 03:00 at night [21:00 GMT], began to install a container on an undocumented section of the border in the Unzhu-Bulak area of the Chong-Alay District of the Osh region, with an entry into the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic up to 1,000 meters [0.6 miles]," the service's spokesperson said.

They noted that at 6:00 in the morning "the situation on the border remained tense," as the Tajik troops left the container where it was placed, moving 600 meters away from it.

Besides, Tajik military personnel was gathering near the border "on motor vehicles and lightly armored vehicles," the service said, adding that even though the Kyrgyz side was trying to resolve the situation "at the level of border representatives of the parties," the Tajik side did not respond to related phone calls from Bishkek.

After the futile attempts, the Kyrgyz border units have switched to an alert mode, the spokesperson said.

Kyrgyzstan's Cabinet of Ministers has confirmed the information provided by the country's border service.

"The Tajik side, violating the previously reached agreements, inflamed and aggravated the situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik state border, which does not correspond to good-neighborly and friendly relations," the government said in a statement issued on Friday.

A local dispute between residents of the border regions of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on April 29 turned into armed clashes between Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards, which lasted more than six hours and left 36 Kyrgyz citizens killed and about 200 wounded.

Tajikistan reported 19 killed and 87 injured. More than 300 buildings were destroyed.

On the same day, the parties agreed to cease fire and withdraw forces from the border, but the next day the hostilities resumed. The countries reached another truce in the late afternoon of April 30. All Tajik troops were pulled back from the conflict zone the next day.