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Tajikistan Tightens Security Along Kyrgyz Border


Tajik border guard (file photo) (ITAR-TASS) May 15, 2006 -- Tajikistan today said additional security measures were being taken along its border with Kyrgyzstan, days after gunmen attacked border posts of both countries.

A spokesman for the State Border Protection Committee, Khushnud Rakhmatullaev, said military reinforcements, including 100 soldiers, had been dispatched to northern Soghd province, where the attack took place. He also said both countries were boosting coordination along that section of the border.

Tajikistan says gunmen on May 12 assaulted one of its border posts in Soghd province's Isfarah district before entering Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz security forces say they subsequently killed four of the gunmen -- whom they describe as Islamic militants -- and captured another one.

Two Kyrgyz soldiers and three Tajik border guards were killed in the fighting.

The identity and motives of the attackers remain unclear.

(Avesta, Asia-Plus, AKIpress)

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