Dozens of residential buildings, as well as a school and a border post burned down in Kyrgyzstan as a result of the conflict on the border with Tajikistan. This was announced on Friday, April 30, at the press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the republic.
“Burnt houses in the Leilek district of the Batken region: in the village of Kulundu – two houses and ten residential buildings in the village of Maksat. In the Batken region there are nine residential buildings, ten gas stations, two restaurants, eight shops, one building of a former casino and one frontier post, ”the department told RIA Novosti.
In addition, in the village of Ak-Sai, the building of the fire and rescue unit of the Ministry of Emergency Situations caught fire, and a school burned down in the Leilek district.
According to the representative office of the Red Crescent in Kyrgyzstan, the republic’s authorities have evacuated 2,726 local residents from the conflict zone on the border with Tajikistan.
The organization’s specialists continue to provide food and psychological support to the evacuees in temporary accommodation centers. It is specified that there are mainly women and children among the evacuees, they were placed in schools and sports complexes in Batken region.
Earlier that day, First Deputy Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Artem Novikov said that there were no major hotbeds of tension on the border with Tajikistan, but local clashes were taking place. He stressed that the government of the republic is in complete control of the situation.
Also on Friday, Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Mukhriddin, in a telephone conversation with his Kyrgyz counterpart Ruslan Kazakbayev, discussed the settlement of the conflict. The ministers pointed out the importance of resolving all issues regarding the state border only through negotiations.
The situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border has worsened the day before. Then there was a shootout between the servicemen of the two countries on the border of the republics. It was preceded by a conflict between local residents in the area of the Golovnoy water distribution point, the ownership of which is disputed by both parties.
Both republics have pulled additional military forces to the section of the border where the shootout took place. It was clarified that five border posts were attacked, one of them started a fire. As a result of the conflict, at least 13 people died, and more than 120 were injured.
The situation stabilized on the morning of April 30.