Kyrgyz border troops are violating the ceasefire requirements after another incident of confrontation on the poorly marked border, the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan (SCNS) said on Saturday.
The committee claims that at 11:10 a.m. local time (05:10 GMT), the commander of the 707th military unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kyrgyzstan, stationed in the former school building of the village of Koktosh of the Batken district, contrary to the requirements of the ceasefire agreement, voluntarily gave the order to fire from all types of weapons at the territory of Tajikistan.
"This situation indicates that individual commanders do not obey the central headquarters of the armed forces of Kyrgyzstan," the press service of the SCNS noted.
On Friday night, a mosque, located near a school, was destroyed in the village Ovchiqalacha on northwestern Tajikistan by a combat unmanned aerial vehicle, the SCNS said, adding that dozens of residential houses of citizens, service points, public and personal transport vehicles were also shelled in this area.
"There is also deployment of additional military forces and equipment of Kyrgyzstan on the border and the strengthening of combat positions, which indicates readiness for the next provocative actions of the Kyrgyz military to destabilize the situation," the SCNS press service said.
Large-scale clashes on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan began on Friday morning. The sides accused each other of shelling. Serious fighting between the military of the two countries lasted all day almost along the entire perimeter of the border. The ceasefire was achieved only by nightfall. However, on Saturday morning, the parties reported shelling from both sides.
At 07.30 a.m. local time on Saturday, the commanders of the border troops of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan held a meeting on the fulfillment of the conditions of the declared ceasefire. The parties discussed the stabilization of the situation, the return of additional forces and equipment to their original positions.
The Kyrgyz-Tajik state border often becomes a conflict zone between local residents and border guards due to the non-delimited areas.