Kyrgyz, Tajik border guards agree to withdraw reinforcements, remove fortifications

BISHKEK. June 3 (Interfax) - Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have agreed to have additional personnel and equipment withdrawn from the joint border and to dismantle their fortifications, the Kyrgyz border guard service said after talks on Friday.

"Kyrgyz and Tajik border officials met in Bulak-Bashy and Tort-Kocho in the [Kyrgyz] Batken district. The talks resulted in an agreement by the parties to remove extra forces and equipment which had been called in as reinforcements back to their bases," the statement said.

The parties have also agreed to replace border teams on both sides, to dismantle engineering structures and not to send border guards to commanding heights.

"During the talks the sides confirmed the need for these arrangements to be implemented, to prevent an escalation of the conflict, and to resolve any issue through negotiation. Overseeing the withdrawal of the additional personnel and equipment will be the heads of the Kyrgyz and Tajikistani border outposts," the statement said.

As of 7 p.m. local time (4 p.m. Moscow time) the border situation was described as relatively stable, it said.

Earlier on Friday the two countries' border guards exchanged fire in a non-delineated section of the joint border, near Bulak-Bashy. The Tajiks fired mortars, injuring two Kyrgyz servicemen.

The incident occurred in a hard-to-access mountain area about 100km from the region's capital, the Batken regional administration said.

The Kyrgyz-Tajik border has been the scene of occasional flare-ups, sometimes involving gunfire, over disputed territories.

On April 16, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said that 664 kilometers of the 972-kilometer shared border with Tajikistan had been agreed upon.