The Kyrgyz border guards reported that complete calm and adherence to a ceasefire prevailed on the border with Tajikistan over the past night and Sunday morning, after days of clashes.
The Kyrgyz Ministry of Health said that 36 people were killed and about 130 wounded during the clashes with Tajik forces on the borders of the two countries, and the authorities evacuated about 137,000 from the conflict areas.
Tajikistan did not announce any official figures for the casualties, but security sources said that 30 people were killed last week, including 15 in a mosque, saying that it was bombed by a Kyrgyzstan drone.
These developments come hours after the Russian Interfax news agency, quoting the Kyrgyz Press Service for National Security, announced that the two sides had started new negotiations to resolve the crisis in the village of Kolkand in the Sughd region of Tajikistan.
The Tajik border guards had accused Kyrgyzstan of bombing several points on the Tajik side of the border, noting that it had monitored Kyrgyzstan bringing in more forces to support its positions on the border.
mutual accusations
Clashes occurred between the two former Soviet republics last week over a border dispute, and the two sides exchanged accusations of using tanks, mortars, rocket artillery and drones to attack nearby sites and towns.
Border issues in Central Asia largely date back to the Soviet era, when Moscow tried to divide the region among ethnic groups whose residential areas were often located among other ethnic areas.
The two countries host Russian military bases, and are members of several Moscow-led military and economic blocs.
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and his Kyrgyz counterpart Sadr Jabarov were attending a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization led by Russia and China last week, held in Uzbekistan, when clashes erupted on the border.
The Kyrgyz and Tajik presidents met in Uzbekistan and agreed to a ceasefire.
Yesterday, Jabarov said he would not stop "for a minute" his efforts to settle the issue of border demarcation with Tajikistan "as soon as possible," pledging at the same time that he would not "give up one square meter of" Kyrgyzstan's land.