Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan agree to order ceasefire and troop pullback following deadly border conflict

Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov and his Tajikistan counterpart Emomali Rakhmon agreed to order a ceasefire and troop pullback in a meeting on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Uzbekistan on Friday.

The ceasefire comes following a deadly border conflict between the two Russian allies that escalated towards war, involving tanks and rocket artillery. The former Soviet republics earlier accused each other of restarting fighting in a disputed area which has left at least three dead and dozens wounded. Earlier on Friday, Moscow urged a cessation of hostilities.

Kyrgyzstan has said that Tajik forces using tanks, armoured personnel carriers and mortars entered at least one Kyrgyz village and shelled the airport of the Kyrgyz town of Bat ken and adjacent areas.

In turn, Tajikistan accused Kyrgyz forces of shelling an outpost and seven villages with heavy weaponry in the same area, which is famous for its jigsaw-puzzle political and ethnic geography and became the site of similar hostilities last year, also nearly leading to a war.