Kyrgyz media reports say Batken police have used stun grenades to disperse instigators of mass disorders in Ak-Sai.
Citing Batken police department, Turmush.kg says residents of the village of Ak-Sai in early hours of July 24 decided to block the Isfara-Vorukh road.
They reportedly put up a wooden bars on the road. At around 11.45 am when police officers were meeting villagers asking to remove the road blockage a truck loaded with gravel came and dumped it right on the road.
When police officers tried to warn the villagers against their unlawful actions, the latters reportedly began throwing stones at police forces wounding three of them.
24.kg says police officers had to use stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the villagers. Several villagers were reportedly detained.
According to AKIPress, the police department said the situation is stable now. The police and local authorities have reportedly held talks with villagers to regulate the situation.
Meanwhile, residents of Tajikistan’s Vorukh exclave in Kyrgyzstan say the current situation along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border is calm. According to them, the current situation is relatively calm but the Isfara-Vorukh road still remains closed.
“At the same time, Kyrgyz villagers have thrown stones at several vehicles on the Isfana-Batken and Isfara-Vorukh roads,” one residents of Vorukh told Asia-Plus by phone.
An official source at the Isfara Administration says, “Somebody does not want stabilization of the situation along the border and a meeting of the presidents.”
According to him, Tajik Deputy Prime Minister Azim Ibrohim and his Kyrgyz counterpart Jenish Razakov has held talks in the Dacha area of Kyrgyzstan’s Batken oblast.
Recall, a new fatal clash broke out among residents of border areas of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in the afternoon of July 22. The clash reportedly left one dead and dozens of wounded.
There are rival accounts about what sparked this incident.
Residents of Tajikistan’s Vorukh exclave in Kyrgyzstan told Asia-Plus by phone that the clash erupted yesterday when people on the Kyrgyz side sought to erect a roadside sign bearing the name of an adjacent village of Ak-Sai in Tajik territory.
According to them, Kyrgyz villagers used hunting guns in the violence, while Tajiks threw stones.
One resident of Vorukh, Jalol Qarayev, was killed and several others were wounded in the clash. Three of them are reportedly in critical condition.
Meanwhile, Kyrgyz news agency 24.kg, citing the Kyrgyz border service, reports the tensions spilled over when residents of Vorukh exclave began installing Tajik flags on the Isfara-Vorukh road, which angered Kyrgyz villagers. The road has now been blocked by Kyrgyz residents as troops restore calm.
The clash broke out just days before the presidents of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were to meet for talks at a conflict-prone border crossing. Villagers on both sides of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border have been hanging flags ahead of visits by the presidents of the two countries to the region.
Some experts believe that Rahmon and Jeenbekov's face-to-face meeting scheduled for July 26 could provide an opportunity for progress.
