Death toll in Kyrgyz-Tajik border clashes rises to 59
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AA) – The death toll from recent border clashes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan rose to 59, Kyrgyzstan’s Health Ministry said on Monday.
In a statement it said another 13 bodies were brought to medical facilities in Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region, where fighting at a disputed section of the border started on Wednesday, with the two sides later agreeing to a cease-fire.
Batken is under a state of emergency, while a national mourning was declared in Kyrgyzstan on Monday.
In a televised address Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov urged people to have trust in the army, saying efforts continued to resolve the Kyrgyz-Tajik border issues peacefully.
The Foreign Ministry on Sunday said the Kyrgyz Republic considers the conflict result of a “planned military aggression.”
Tajikistan’s presidency, meanwhile, accused the Kyrgyz side of continuing with “outright lies and insinuations” and “information campaign against Tajikistan, thereby escalating tension in the border area.”
Last week, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon and Kyrgyztan’s Japarov met at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand and agreed to resolve the conflict via diplomacy.
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