Border conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan

Troops from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan exchanged fire at their contested border Friday, leaving wounded on both sides, Kyrgyzstan’s security committee said.

“As of 2:15 pm (0815 GMT) on June 3, 2022, the shootout ended, there are wounded on both sides,” the committee said in a statement.

Shootouts between border troops of the two impoverished Central Asian countries have become increasingly regular and delimitation talks have made little progress.

Serious escalations are rare but fears of a wider conflict stirred last year when dozens died in the worst confrontation between the pair in three decades of post-Soviet independence.

Kyrgyzstan said the latest violence began with an incursion into Kyrgyz territory by Tajik troops.

“Ignoring legal demands to leave the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajik border guards opened fire on Kyrgyz military personnel,” the Kyrgyz security committee said in its statement.

“A skirmish ensued between the border patrols of the two countries, during which the Tajik side used mortars,” the committee added.

Tajikistan, a closed authoritarian state, had not yet released an account of the incident.

Over a third of the two countries’ 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) border remains disputed.