Dozens injured in new clashes on Kyrgyz-Tajik border

BISHKEK, May 8 (Itar-Tass) - Dozens were injured in new clashes on Wednesday at Central Asia's Kyrgyz-Tajik border, both countries giving different interpretations but stating unified intent to stop escalation and speed agreement on defining where the border lies. Kyrgyz officials said Tajik nationals hurled stones at the car of a Kyrgyz national driving on south Kyrgyzstan's Batken-Isfana highway. The incident drew to the site about 1,500 people on both sides, stoning each other, officials reported. Guards failed to to quell the crowd, firing warning shots into the air asTajik nationals burned down a fuel station, a store and two trucks. Kyrgyz nationals were taken to hospital, two in a grave condition among 30 people said to be hurt, Kyrgyz authorities said. Tajikistan administrators said more than 60 people were injured. Tajik news outlets quoted Jumbai Sanginov, deputy chairman of the republic’s northern Sogd region, blaming violence on residents of a Kyrgyz settlement said to have attacked a car with Tajik number plates and with young children inside. Experts in Tajikistan capital Dushanbe say border conflict has become more frequent due to a stalled process of delimiting disputed border lines. The Tajik enclave of Vorukh in Kazakhstan also plays a role, they say. Kyrgyzstan Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldayev shares this view. “We intend to conduct negotiations at the level of the two countries’ interior ministries and ambassadors," he says. "We believe the conflict results from unsettled border problems,” he told a Thursday parliamentary session reviewing the latest clashes. January saw an exchange of fire between guards at the same location. Kyrgyzstan unilaterally closed the border checkpoint, reopened after weeks of negotiation. Learn more on itar-tass.com