Kyrgyzstan said on Friday that at least 24 people had been killed in border clashes with Tajikistan, in a new outbreak of violence between the two former Soviet republics in Central Asia.
“Twenty-four bodies were brought to health facilities in the Batken region,” located in southwestern Kyrgyzstan on the border with Tajikistan, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Health said in a statement.
The Interfax news service reported the Kyrgyz Emergency Ministry as saying that over 136,000 civilians had been evacuated from the conflict zone.
Border officials in Tajikistan charged, however, that Kyrgyz forces had bombarded and shelled Tajik villages with heavy weapons. Tajik authorities said they proposed negotiations and a ceasefire, but Kyrgyz troops reportedly ignored the offers, according to media reports.
Border clashes erupt fairly frequently between the two Central Asian neighbours. The latest round came just hours after Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and President Emomali Rakhmon of Tajikistan agreed to order a ceasefire and troop pullback at a regional summit in Uzbekistan.
