Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan agree to withdraw troops from border section where exchange of fire took place - Kyrgyz border service

BISHKEK. June 14 (Interfax) - Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have agreed to withdraw their troops from combat positions at the border section where an exchange of fire took place on Tuesday morning, the Kyrgyz border service said.

"A meeting between border officials of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan is continuing. The parties are analyzing reasons behind an exchange of fire between the border posts of Bulak-Bashy (Kyrgyzstan) and Kekh (Tajikistan). The first result of the talks was the decision to withdraw units from combat positions they had assumed," it said.

The chiefs of the security agencies of the two countries' border regions are also taking part in the meeting. As of 1:00 p.m. local time, the situation on the Kyrgyzstan-Tajik border was seen as tense.

None of the Kyrgyz Border Service personnel was injured in the skirmish, it said.

According to the Border Service of the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security, at around 7:00 a.m., in the Bulak-Bashy area of the Batken district in the Batken region, a shot was fired from the direction of Tajikistan's Kekh border outpost toward the Bulak-Bashy Kyrgyz border outpost. The Kyrgyz side fired back in the direction of the Tajik border outpost.

Despite a telephone call held between a representative of the Kyrgyz Border Service for the Batken region and a representative of the Tajik Border Service for the Sughd region, the Tajik side resumed the shootout at 7:50 a.m., using grenade launchers and mortars. The exchange of fire stopped at 8:10 a.m.

Officials of the parties' border authorities were meeting to find out the reasons behind the incident and prevent tensions from escalating further.

The Tajik media outlet Asia-Plus, in turn, said on Telegram that a Tajik conscript soldier died in the shootout on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border.