Kyrgyzstan announces ceasefire with Tajikistan after deadly clashes

Kyrgyzstan said Friday it had agreed a ceasefire with Tajikistan after deadly clashes on their disputed border escalated and raised fears of all-out conflict between the Central Asian nations.

Russia has offered to mediate between the two ex-Soviet countries, where recent fighting has left dozens injured and several dead, and called for "urgent" measures to halt the fighting.

Kyrgyzstan had accused Tajikistan's forces of escalating the fighting by firing rockets on the border town of Batken, with a population of around 30,000 people in the south east of the country.

Shortly after, Kyrgyzstan's border guards said in a statement that the two countries' national security chiefs had agreed a ceasefire that would begin at 16:00 local time (1000 GMT).

The clashes escalated while the leaders of both countries were participating in a regional summit in Uzbekistan, with Central Asian power brokers Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping both in attendance.

Russia's foreign ministry repeated an offer to oversee talks between the countries as the ceasefire was announced and asked them to negotiate an end to the dispute.

"We call on both sides to take urgent and comprehensive measures to bring the situation to political and diplomatic channels and to stop any attempts at escalation including by provocations from third parties," the foreign ministry said.

The fighting flared on Friday, Kyrgyz officials said, with both sides accusing the other of responsibility and of using heavy weapons.

"The area around the Batken airport and sites on the outskirts of the city have come under fire from Tajik multiple rocket launcher systems," Kyrgyzstan's border guard service said.

- 'Violent clashes' -

"Civilian infrastructure in the city of Batken was destroyed," a statement added.

The head of a security alliance led by Moscow said earlier Friday that officials in both capitals had supported the implementation of a ceasefire and negotiations.

However, Kyrgyzstan's border guard service said "violent clashes" had broken out "along the entire perimeter of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in the Batken region".

It accused Tajikistan of using heavy weapons, including rocket launchers and jets, but said its forces were repelling the attacks "making it impossible for them to capture settlements in Kyrgyzstan."

The health ministry said 42 people had been injured and that medical facilities in the border region of Batken had been put on alert. It appealed to border-region residents to donate blood.

Tajikistan accused Kyrgyz forces meanwhile of opening fire early Friday with "intensive" shelling of homes and civilian infrastructure. It did not give information about casualties.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, citing official sources, however reported that one Tajik border guard was killed and three more were injured.

Kyrgyzstan said it was launching civilian evacuations from the border region.

Fighting regularly flares up between the two countries that share a 970 kilometre-long (600- mile-) border, with around half of the frontier contested.

In 2021, unprecedented clashes between the two sides killed 50 people.

The fighting has raised fears of yet another conflict in the ex-Soviet region with clashes this week between Armenia and Azerbaijan leaving more than 200 dead.

Ukraine meanwhile claims sweeping gains in a counter-offensive against Russia's invasion.

The authoritarian leader of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, and his Kyrgyz counterpart Sadyr Japarov were this week attending a regional summit of leaders in Uzbekistan.

The leaders were seen together in official images distributed by the press service of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), an alliance that Putin and Xi said offered an alternative to Western-led international organisations.