Fresh clashes have erupted between Tajik and Kyrgyz border guards, leaving at least one dead, with both sides blaming the other for the violence along a disputed segment of the border between the Central Asian countries.
The Kyrgyz Border Guard Service said on September 14 that Tajik border guards fired at Kyrgyz guards at the Dostuk (Friendship) outpost in the Kak-Sai area of Kyrgyzstan's southern Batken region.
It was the second clash of the day, after Tajik border guards used mortars during a shoot-out near the village of Bulak-Bashi, wounding two Kyrgyz soldiers, they said.
Sources in the Tajik border guards told RFE/RL that one of its guards was killed and two wounded in the initial shoot-out early in the morning on September 14.
Tajik officials accused the Kyrgyz side of starting the shooting and shelling of Tajik border guards with mortars. Tajik officials did not give any details about casualties.
The flareup in violence comes a day before a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan and with clashes reported between other countries such as Azerbaijan and Armenia, and Russia and Ukraine.
RFE/RL correspondents report the two sides have started negotiations to resolve the dispute.
Almost half of the 970-kilometer Kyrgyz-Tajik border has yet to be demarcated, leading to repeated tensions and sporadic deadly clashes since the two countries gained independence three decades ago.
Kyrgyz and Tajik leaders are expected to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan this week alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping as well as a host of other world leaders.