The number of victims on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border increased to 166 people. This was announced on May 1 by the Deputy Minister of Health of Kyrgyzstan Jalalidin Rakhmatullaev.
“The number of victims was 166 people, the deaths – 33,” said Rakhmatullaev, quoted by Interfax.
Also, the Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan reported that the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations will deliver humanitarian aid to the blocked area of the country.
“The Ministry of Emergency Situations will be responsible for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Lyaylek District,” said Aliza Soltonbekova, Deputy Minister of Health and Social Development of the country, at a briefing.
Earlier on Saturday, it became known that the number of residents of Kyrgyzstan, who died as a result of the conflict on the border with Tajikistan, increased to 33. In addition, it was reported that the border guards of Kyrgyzstan took up defensive positions on the border with Tajikistan.
On the same day, it was reported that in Kyrgyzstan, May 1 and 2 were declared days of national mourning for those killed during a shootout on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, the corresponding decree was approved by the President of the Republic Sadyr Japarov.
The conflict took place on April 29 on one of the sections of the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. 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.
By the evening, the parties agreed on a ceasefire from 17:00 Moscow time. They committed themselves to withdrawing forces to the places of their former deployment. But on April 30, the skirmish at the border resumed. Tajik security forces fired at the village of Kyzyl-Bel in the area bordering Kyrgyzstan.
Later it was reported that the parties decided to withdraw troops from the state border line.