Rahmon agrees with Japarov on the Samarkand border issue

Today 16 September, the Presidents of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, who came to Samarkand to participate in the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, held a face-to-face discussion about the situation on the border.

The leaders of the two countries agreed to give instructions to the relevant structures for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops and equipment from the conflict line.

It was also agreed to expedite the work of the intergovernmental commission of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on the delimitation and demarcation of the State border.

Earlier, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan agreed on a ceasefire at 16:00pm.

It should be noted that the Tajik military began shelling several other areas on the border with Kyrgyzstan.  The representatives of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan then held talks during which they agreed on a ceasefire along the common border.

For the information, the situation on the border of the two countries escalated on 14 September.  According to the Kyrgyz side, the Tajik border guards entered the border region in the Bulok-Bashi area of the Botkensk region of Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday and «took up combat positions». In response to a demand by the Kyrgyz military to leave the territory, the Tajik border guards opened fire, after which shots were fired.  Several hours later, armed clashes also erupted in the As-Sai and Paska-Arik districts of the Botken region. In the evening, the shooting stopped and the Kyrgyz side reported that two soldiers and three civilians had been wounded.

Eighteen Kyrgyz soldiers were wounded and a 15-year-old girl was killed in cross-border crossfire.  One border policeman was killed and three were injured by Tajikistan.