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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Tempers flaring as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan comes to deadly blows |
| 2021-04-30 |
| Moved to non WOT [EurasiaNet] The armed forces of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan engaged in their most vicious bout of fighting in years on April 29, exchanging automatic rifle, machine gun and artillery fire in an hours-long battle over a strategic water facility. At least five people have reportedly been killed and several dozen injured in the clashes across a disputed border where southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan intersect. Both governments appear on the face of things to be seeking a rapid de-escalation. The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry announced in the evening that it had agreed with its Tajik opposite party on a ceasefire to take effect from 8 p.m. local time and for forces to withdraw. Bishkek-based news website Kaktus reported, however, citing local officials in southern Kyrgyzstan, that gunfire could still be heard after that hour. Meanwhile, a reporter who managed to reach Chorkuh, a Tajik town on the border, told Eurasianet he heard intense artillery fire until the ceasefire hour and that it then stopped. Popular moods will be more difficult to contain. An ill-tempered crowd was still assembled late in the evening in front of the regional headquarters in Batken, the capital of the eponymous southern Kyrgyz region where the fighting is taking place. A Eurasianet correspondent watched as men in the throng issued angry demands that the authorities give them weapons so that they too could join the fight. More at the link Also: From Russian military journalist Aleksandr Kots: "Tajikistan continues massive shelling with mortars, machine guns and machine guns at the Golovnaya water intake located in the village of Kok-Tash in the Batken region" - the border service of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan. From a translated article which appeared in regnum.ru : The Kyrgyz and Tajik sides pledged to cease fire at the border from 20:00 (local time) today, April 29, the press service of the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said. The corresponding agreement was reached during the talks by the heads of the foreign affairs agencies of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan Ruslan Kazakbaev and Sirojiddin Mukhriddin . The parties undertook to withdraw the security officials "to the places of their previous deployment" immediately after the onset of the agreed hour . We add that the negotiations between Bishkek and Dushanbe took place in several stages. [PUBLISH.TWITTER]
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| Posted by:badanov |