This story updates a Eurasianet report originally posted December 2.

The Tajik government is vehemently denying a report it is seeking Russia’s help to contain raids by Islamic militants operating out of Afghanistan. Two recent attacks have left five Chinese nationals working in Tajik border areas dead.

The Reuters news agency reported December 2 that Tajik officials were negotiating with their Russian counterparts on mounting joint patrols along the almost 850-mile-long frontier with Afghanistan, under the auspices of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The following day the Tajik Foreign Ministry assailed the Reuters report, asserting it “does not correspond to reality,” going on to insist the border situation was stable and “under the full control of the relevant authorities.”

“The Republic of Tajikistan is constantly implementing the necessary measures aimed at strengthening the reliability of the state border,” the Foreign Ministry statement added. Reuters has taken the unusual step of withdrawing the report, citing “insufficient evidence.”

The trouble along the border began on November 26, when Islamic militants in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan Province launched a drone attack on a Chinese workers’ camp in Tajikistan’s Khatlon Region, according to Tajik officials. Three workers were killed and one wounded, according to a statement issued by the Chinese embassy in Tajikistan.

Condemning the raid as a “grave criminal act,” the embassy urged all Chinese nationals working on construction projects in border areas to leave the vicinity as quickly as possible. Chinese diplomats in Afghanistan likewise called on Chinese workers at gold mines in northern Afghanistan to evacuate.

On November 30, a similar cross-border attack occurred in Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, leaving two Chinese workers dead and another two wounded.

Following the second attack, Tajik leader Emomali Rahmon summoned an emergency meeting of his national security team, issuing instructions to “prevent the recurrence of such unfortunate incidents.”

The State Security Service, meanwhile, lashed out at Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership, calling on authorities in Kabul to stop the militant strikes and “arrest the persons involved in these monstrous attacks.”

The security services statement went on to acknowledge that “at present, the situation is not stable at the state border.”

Taliban officials denied any connection to the attacks. The Tolo news agency, citing a Taliban Foreign Ministry representative, attributed the incidents to radical “elements seeking to create chaos, instability, and distrust among countries in the region.”

Taliban Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi sought to reassure his Tajik counterpart, Sirojiddin Muhriddin, during a teleconference December 2, saying Kabul would “engage in all forms of coordination” with Dushanbe, calling “joint action against hostile elements a timely necessity.”

Also on December 2, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called for stepped-up engagement with the Taliban, which Moscow recognized as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan in July. “It is an important country in the region,” the official TASS news agency quoted Peskov as saying.

Moscow maintains military facilities housing thousands of troops in and around Dushanbe, the Tajik capital. Both countries are members of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization. The Russian lease on its military facilities in Tajikistan runs until 2042.

During a visit to Tajikistan in October, Russian leader Vladimir Putin indicated he was eager to bolster security cooperation with Tajikistan, describing the Dushanbe troop contingent as a “guarantor of security for both the republic and the wider region.”