BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan said on Friday that they had agreed a ceasefire after shootouts at their contested border left two Tajik citizens dead.
The violence that erupted Thursday night and continued into the night was the bloodiest escalation between the two countries since deadly clashes last year.
Border communities in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan often clash over land and water supplies, and border guards are often involved in the conflict.
As a result of the latest conflict, “10 people were injured on the Tajik side, of which six were servicemen and four were civilians,” Tajikistan’s national security committee said.
Tajikistan added that the two dead were a man “killed by a mortar shell fired by Kyrgyz soldiers into his yard” and an ambulance driver.
Following the overnight clashes, Kyrgyzstan’s national security committee said Friday that it had reached an agreement for “a complete ceasefire” with Tajikistan during a meeting at the border between provincial governors and border service representatives.
Neighboring countries also agreed to withdraw their troops, coordinate border patrols and ensure smooth traffic along strategic roads between the two countries.
Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadr Japarov tried to assure citizens that the conflict would be “peacefully resolved through negotiations, God bless”.
