Death toll in Kyrgyz-Tajik border clashes rises to 59

By Nazir Aliyev Tayfur

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AA) – The death toll from recent border clashes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan rose to 59, with 144 others getting injured, 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. The previous death toll stood at 46.

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 his country to have trust in its army, saying efforts continue to resolve the Kyrgyz-Tajik border issues peacefully.

Its Foreign Ministry on Sunday said the Kyrgyz Republic considers the conflict "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.

*Writing by Merve Berker