Reports: 6 Wounded in Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan Border Clash

A Kyrgyz border guard smokes outside a temporary camp near a frontier border post in the village of Maksat in Batken province, Kyrgyzstan, on May 4, 2021. (Vladimir Pirogov/Reuters)

MOSCOW—Fighting between the border guards services of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan has wounded at least six people, local news reports said Thursday.

The conflict reportedly began near the Kyrgyz city of Batken after Tajik border guards closed a road that leads to sizable towns in Kyrgyzstan’s west.

Kyrgyz authorities say the Tajik guards have fired with mortars and grenade-launchers. Tajik authorities haven’t made statements about the conflict, but the Tajik service of Russian news service Sputnik reported that six Tajiks have been wounded.

The serpentine Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border is often a tense area. In 2021, at least 55 people died in clashes that erupted near the border in a dispute over water rights and the installation of surveillance cameras by Tajikistan.