Border representatives of Kyrgyzstan in the Batken region and Tajikistan in the Sughd region have made a joint statement regarding the shooting incident at the border. This was reported by the Border Service of Kyrgyzstan.
On May 7, in the area of Koroo in the Leylek district of the Batken region, a Kyrgyz border patrol noticed Tajik citizens - shepherds grazing livestock on the territory of Kyrgyzstan near the border line. The demands of the border guards for the Tajik citizens to leave Kyrgyzstan were ignored, and the citizens of Tajikistan began to throw stones at the Kyrgyz military personnel. One of the shepherds fired several shots towards the Kyrgyz border patrol. In order to prevent the escalation of the situation, the border guards of Kyrgyzstan fired warning shots into the air, after which the shepherds fled to the territory of Tajikistan.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the common reasons for the incident between the shepherds and the border patrols of the two countries, the behavior of residents living in border areas engaged in livestock grazing, and ways to resolve issues to prevent possible border incidents on the Kyrgyz-Tajik section of the state border.
"The parties agreed to organize work at the level of local authorities (between the akims of border districts of the two republics), to conduct explanatory work in the directions, to continue the implementation of tasks aimed at maintaining good neighborly and kinship relations between the residents of border regions of the two states," the statement said.
