A Tajik border guard officer has been killed in an armed clash with Afghan drug smugglers along the Tajik-Afghan border in the Tajik southern Khatlon province.
Lieutenant Umedjon Hasanov was killed in a skirmish that took place between Tajik border guards on a routine patrol and a group of armed Afghan drug smugglers in the border area of the Hamadoni district on October 20 this year.
An official source at the Border Guard Directorate of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) says it was the first casualty among Tajik border guards in 2015-2016.
“Over the past two years, no one Tajik border has even been wounded,” the source added.
This year has reportedly seen 22 skirmishes between Tajik border guards and armed trespassers along the Tajik-Afghan border. Twelve trespassers have been killed, six others have been wounded and 15 trespassers have been detained.
Last year Tajik border forces reportedly skirmished with Afghan armed smugglers at least 30 times, killing 16.
Meantime, Tajik law enforcement authorities are taking efforts to identify the drug smugglers who killed Lieutenant Umedjon Hasanov.
According to Umedjon Hasanov’s relatives, he sustained eleven bullet wounds. Umedjon Hasanov left behind a wife and three children.
