Fighting on disputed Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border leaves 13 dead
- Troops from two countries exchange fire around water supply facility
- Kyrgyzstan reports 13 killed, dozens injured in latest outburst of tensions
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 along their disputed border in years.
Kyrgyzstan’s health ministry said that it had suffered 134 casualties “including 13 fatalities”, with two of the injured in a serious condition. A girl born in 2008 was among the casualties, it said.
Over 10,000 citizens had been evacuated from two districts bordering Tajikistan where the fighting had been most intense, Kyrgyzstan also said.
The government of Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region – which borders Tajikistan – said the citizens had been “placed in specially organised points” in its administrative centre, “or went to visit relatives”.
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 8pm, 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”.