BISHKEK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th July, 2021) A firefight took place on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the Border Guard Service of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan told Sputnik on Saturday.
Residents of Tajik border areas started on Saturday cleaning nearby areas of Kyrgyzstan's Batken region of sand without previously agreeing the measure with the Kyrgyz side, the authority said. After the Tajik side refused to stop the work as per the request of the local authorities and Kyrgyz border guard, clashes between the sides broke out.
During the clashes, the Tajik border guards fired shots towards Kyrgyzstan, the border agency said, adding that they "fired retaliatory shots towards Tajikistan."
No casualties are reported in the clashes, the border guard said, noting the situation is unstable.
The administration of the northern Tajik city of Isfara told Sputnik later on Saturday that the Kyrgyz side initiated the armed conflict on the border near the city, adding that the neighboring country's troops attempted to prevent the residents of the Chorkukh village from holding an annual volunteer clean-up day.
"[The Kyrgyz border guard] provoked their citizens, they started throwing stones at our citizens, and their border guards fired toward our citizens," the city administration said.
The authorities said that the Tajik border service was forced to retaliate, noting the firefight lasted 10 minutes.
