The mayor’s office of the northern Tajik city of Isfara says unknown persons fired at the house of Muhammadjon Dovudov, a resident of Somoniyon village in Chorkuh jamoat, which is subordinate to Isfara, from Kyrgyz territory on December 22, at about 10:00 pm.
Fortunately, no one was hurt, but his children and wife received psychological trauma, the Isfara administration press center says.
They further noted that it was not the first attack on Dovudov’s house. About two weeks ago, Kyrgyz reportedly stole several heads of his cattle. They were returned only after the intervention of law enforcement agencies, Isfara mayor’s office said.
They also noted that Dovudov’s house was completely destroyed by residents of the Kyrgyz village of Kok-Tash during the late April clashes. The house was restored with the help of the Isfara local authorities.
Kyrgyz authorities did not comment on this incident.
Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Kyrgyz Service reported on December 22 that Kyrgyz authorities say Tajik border guards opened fire on a truck and attempted to abduct the driver near a disputed sector of the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan ethnic-related incidents have been frequent in recent years.
Kyrgyzstan's State Border Guard Service was cited as saying that three Tajik border guards forcibly got aboard a Kyrgyz truck, when its driver stopped to get some water from a spring in the southern Leilek district.
"The Tajik border guards then ordered the Kyrgyz driver to drive his truck further with them aboard. To attract other vehicles attention to his situation, the driver abruptly turned the wheel blocking the road, which forced the Tajik soldiers to leave the truck. However, when the Kyrgyz citizen continued to drive his truck, the Tajik border guards opened fire at the vehicle hitting the windshield and a tire," says a statement released by Kyrgyzstan's State Border Guard Service, according to RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service.
The driver reportedly sustained minor injuries caused by shattered glass.
The incident could not be independently confirmed and Tajik officials have yet to comment on the Kyrgyz statement, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service added.
The press center of Tajikistan’s Main Border Guard Directorate said today afternoon that it will officially comment on the recent shooting at the border during the day. It also noted that situation along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border in border areas where the incidents had occurred is now stable.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have not yet resolved the border delineation problem. Many border areas in Central Asia have been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the Fergana Valley, where the borders of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan meet.
The border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has been the scene of unrest repeatedly since the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
It has been difficult to demarcate the Kyrgyz-Tajik border because over the course of some 100 years Soviet mapmakers drew and redrew the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, incorporating land that had traditionally belonged to one people in the territory of the other Soviet republic.
Exclaves appeared and temporary land use agreements were signed.
All of this survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and people in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have various Soviet-era maps they use to justify their claim to specific areas along the border.
Border talks between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan began in 2002. Only slightly more than half of the 970 kilometers of border shared by the two countries has been demarcated despite decades of attempts to bring the matter to a close. The border delineation problem has led to conflicts between rival ethnic communities.
Almost half of the 970-kilometer-long Kyrgyz-Tajik border has not been demarcated, leading to repeated tensions since the two countries gained independence three decades ago
In late April, clashes that involved military personnel along a disputed segment of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border left dozens of people dead on both sides.
