Tajik military open fire on residential houses of Kyrgyz citizens

Bishkek, May 1, 2021. / Kabar /. Tajik servicemen opened fire on residential houses of Kyrgyzstanis, the Public Relations and Media Department of the Border Service of the Kyrgyz Republic reported on Saturday.

As of 12:45 p.m. local time on May 1, 2021, the situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik section of the state border is tense, the report said.

Tajik servicemen opened fire on the residential houses of citizens in the Arka area of ​​Leilek region of Batken Oblast of Kyrgyzstan. The villagers were previously evacuated. The border subdivisions of Kyrgyzstan took up defensive positions, it said.

The conflict on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border has started on April 28, when citizens of Tajikistan began loading crushed stone from the bank of the Ak-Suu river three to four meters from the conditional line of the state border. Later, the Tajik side installed video surveillance cameras on power transmission poles near the Golovnaya water intake in Batken region. Local residents, gathered on both sides, started throwing stones at each otheк after verbal skirmish. By evening, the situation had stabilized - negotiations were held, and the Tajik side agreed to dismantle the cameras, but did not fulfill the promise.

The situation on the border escalated on April 29 morning. The militarymen of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan fought during the day. An emergency regime was introduced in three village of Batken Oblast.

The ministries of foreign affairs of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, after several negotiations, reached an agreement on a complete ceasefire from 20:00 p.m. of April 29 and on the withdrawal of military forces to the former deployment locations. At night it became known that, despite the agreements, there was shooting in the border villages of Leilek region, and the houses of Kyrgyz citizens were burned by Tajik side.

On April 30, negotiations continued, by evening it was announced that the sides were withdrawing their troops.

On May 1, the Border Service reported that the situation at the border was assessed as stable. No incidents and skirmishes were recorded during the night. However, closer to noon, Tajik servicemen opened fire on residential houses of Kyrgyzstanis.

According to the latest data, 31 Kyrgyzstanis died during these days, 163 injured.