BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, May 8. The border services of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have issued a joint statement following yesterday's armed incident on the state border, Trend reports.
According to the Border Service of Kyrgyzstan, a border representative meeting took place in the Leylek district of the Batken region. The meeting included representatives of the security and law enforcement agencies of Batken, Kyrgyzstan, and the Sughd region of Tajikistan, as well as the leaders of the Leylek district and the Jabbor Rasulov district of Tajikistan.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the common reasons for the incident between citizens and border patrols of both sides, as well as the behavior of residents living in border areas engaged in cattle grazing. They also discussed ways to prevent possible border incidents along the Kyrgyz–Tajik stretch of the state border.
The parties agreed to organize work at the local level to conduct explanatory work in various directions and to continue the implementation of tasks aimed at maintaining good neighborly and fraternal relations between residents of border regions of the two countries.
On May 7, the incident occurred around 12:20 local time near the settlement of Ak-Bosogo in the Leylek district of the Batken region. It was reported that Kyrgyz border guards spotted Tajik citizens-shepherds-grazing livestock on the territory of Kyrgyzstan, approximately 250–300 meters from the state borderline.
The demands of the Kyrgyz guards for the Tajik citizens to leave the territory of Kyrgyzstan were ignored. Furthermore, the Tajik citizens began throwing stones at the Kyrgyz border guards.
One of the shepherds fired 2-3 shots towards the Kyrgyz border guard post. In order to prevent further escalation, the Kyrgyz border guards fired warning shots into the air, after which the shepherds fled into Tajikistan.