Tajikistan: 41 killed in border clashes with Kyrgyzstan

Tajik Deputy Foreign Minister Sodik Imomi has reported the death of 41 people in the armed border conflict with Kyrgyzstan.

"As a result of the aggressive actions of Kyrgyzstan, at the moment we can confirm the death of 41 people," TASS quotes the deputy minister as saying on September 19.

The State Border Service of the Kyrgyz National Security Committee reported earlier in the day that additional forces and means are being withdrawn from the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in compliance with the agreements between the two countries.

In parallel, law enforcement forces of both countries keep order on the highway connecting the Tajik cities of Khujand and Kanibadam and the Kyrgyz settlements of Arka and Borborduk.

According to the latest BBC report, at least 94 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in clashes on the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border - the deadliest in years. Fighting between the two Central Asian states broke out on September 14, before a ceasefire was agreed on September 16.

Violence regularly erupts between the two former Soviet republics, whose border has been contested since the collapse of the USSR. Both sides blame each other for the outbreak of violence.