Tajik Villager Killed By Kyrgyz-Tajik Cross-Border Shooting

DUSHANBE — A villager in Tajikistan has been killed in a shooting incident across the Tajik-Kyrgyz border.

Both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan also report that a soldier from their border-guard services was injured by cross-border gunfire early on August 6.

The main directorate of Tajikistan’s border guards said 65-year-old Tajik villager Vohid Vahobov was killed early on August 6 by gunfire that came from the Kyrgyz side of the border.

The directorate also said a Tajik border guard officer, Lieutenant Sher Kabirov, was wounded by gunfire from Kyrgyzstan’s side of the border.

Meanwhile, the Kyrgyz Border Guard Service said one of its soldiers was wounded early on August 6 by gunfire from “unknown individuals” on the Tajik side of the border.

Officials from both countries said later that a tense situation in the area had been brought under control.

There have been border tensions between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan for years, with each nation accusing the other of escalating the situation.

In late May, cross-border clashes left several people on both sides wounded.

Many sections of the borders between former Soviet republics in Central Asia have been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Clashes involving border guards and local villagers frequently take place in such border areas.