Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan reported no major overnight incidents on Saturday, suggesting a ceasefire agreed after intense fighting on Friday remained in place, although Kyrgyz border guards said the village was briefly shelled. The two former Soviet republics clashed this week over a border dispute, accusing each other of using tanks, mortars, rocket artillery and attack drones to attack nearby settlements.
Central Asian border issues largely date back to the Soviet era, when Moscow tried to divide the region between groups whose settlements were often located among those of other ethnicities. Kyrgyzstan, which reported 24 dead and dozens wounded on Friday, said a border village had been shelled by mortars five minutes earlier on Saturday after an otherwise peaceful night.
Tajikistan gave no official casualty figures, but security sources said at least seven people were killed on Friday. Tajik border guards said in a statement on Friday that several Tajik villages had been hit by Kyrgyz helicopters and drones. Tajik security sources said state security chiefs from both sides continued talks on Saturday to settle the conflict.
