Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan Border – At least 94 people have been killed and dozen others injured in clashes on the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border, according to sources, before a ceasefire was brokered on Friday.
The report marks the deadliest clashes in years, as the two Central Asian countries broke out on Wednesday over a contested border.
Clashes regularly erupt between the two former Soviet republics, where Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan share a 1,000-km (600-mile) border, a third of which is disputed.
Late on Sunday, Kyrgyzstan reported an additional 13 deaths from the fighting, taking its total death toll to 59. It added that more than 100 people had been injured.
Meanwhile, Tajikistan said 35 of its citizens had been killed, and at least 20 had been injured.
Amid international pressure, the two sides signed a ceasefire on Friday, as BBC wrote. It has largely been upheld despite claims of some shelling since by both sides.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin appealed to the two countries to resolve their differences peacefully, urging the two leaders to resolve the situation “exclusively by peaceful, political and diplomatic means as soon as possible.”
Putin called for a de-escalation of tensions in phone calls with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon and Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov on Sunday, according to the Kremlin.
Kyrgyzstan has declared Monday a day of national mourning for those killed in the clashes.
In 2021, clashes on the border led to unprecedented fighting between the two countries, when almost 50 people were killed. But the violence in recent days has led to a death toll of nearly 100 – almost doubling the figures.
What We Know About the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan Border?
A border conflict began between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on 28 April 2021. The events regarding the conflict’s outbreak are disputed, but clashes reportedly began due to an old water dispute between the two Central Asian countries.
Some sources report an immediate reason for the conflict was the dissatisfaction of the local population with the installation of surveillance cameras near the border.
At least 55 people were killed in the events and more than 40,000 civilians were displaced. On January 27, 2022, sporadic border clashes resumed between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, following a series of clashes in the spring and summer of 2021 between the two countries.
