Kyrgyzstan Closes Tajik Border After Clashes In Tajikistan

September 20, 2010
BATKEN, Kyrgyzstan -- Kyrgyzstan has closed its border with Tajikistan following the deadly clashes between an armed extremist group and Tajik military forces in Tajikistan's Rasht province on September 19, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
 
Kyrgyz Border Guard Service Deputy Chairman Cholponbek Turusbekov told RFE/RL that Kyrgyz security forces from the Naryn, Issyk-Kul, Chui, and Talas oblasts have been deployed to Batken Oblast to control the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.
 
Tajik authorities say armed militants killed at least 23 servicemen on September 19 near the town of Garm, not far from the Tajik-Kyrgyz border.

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