DUSHANBE, June 22, 2012, Asia-Plus – Senior representatives from local authorities of the Tajik Isfara district and the Kyrgyz Batken district have gathered in the Tajik northern city of Isfara to discuss an incident that has taken place in the Kyrgyz border village of Karabak.
An official source at the Isfara administration told Asia-Plus Friday afternoon that residents of the Kyrgyz village of Karabak on June 21 took 17 Tajik nationals, running shops at the Ravoti Kaboud bazaar, hostage.
“They took Tajik nationals hostage for the purpose of exchanging them for three Kyrgyz nationals, who were arrested with 193 kilograms of mercury in the territory of Tajikistan on June 20,” the source said, noting that after the explanatory conversations the hostages were released.
According to Kyrgyz media sources, criminal proceedings have been instituted against the organizers of the hostage-taking action and an investigation is under way.
The current situation on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border and in the Kyrgyz village of Karabak is reportedly calm.
