Dozens have been killed on both sides in border clashes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that involved heavy artillery along disputed areas and a reported drone attack on a village in Tajikistan.
The reports about heavy casualties came after the leaders of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan early on September 16 said they had agreed to a cease-fire and ordered their troops to withdraw as reports of clashes raised security concerns in Central Asia.
The Kyrgyz Health Ministry said 24 people were killed and 87 wounded in the clashes. It said early on September 17 that five injured children were among the wounded and that they had been sent to Bishkek for treatment.
The head of Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security, Kamchybek Tashiev, said that the shooting had stopped but the situation remained critical. He said the losses were mainly among military personnel.
The report of deaths and injuries on the Kyrgyz side came after a mosque in the village of Ovchi-Qalacha in the Bobojan Ghafurov district was hit by a Kyrgyz drone on the evening of September 16, according to multiple sources and a video sent to RFE/RL's Tajik Service.
Ahror Nematov, a resident of Ovchi-Qalacha, told RFE/RL that dozens were killed and injured.
A local official at the scene confirmed the attack on the mosque but said he did not have time to talk.
"We are evacuating the population from here," he said.
WATCH: Fresh clashes erupted at the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on September 16, with both sides accusing each other of using heavy weaponry in fighting that has killed at least three people and wounded dozens over three days.
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Tanks, Firing, And Evacuations Amid Kyrgyz-Tajik Clashes
The news agency Asia-Plus confirmed on Telegram that a group of residents had been hit in an attack by a Kyrgyz drone.
"After the news about the cease-fire, the residents took to the streets, and at this time, the shot of a Kyrgyz drone hit the crowd," residents told the agency.
Six bodies can be seen in a video purportedly shot in the aftermath of the attack. The video was sent by a local resident to RFE/RL.
A local journalist in the Soghd region confirmed that the footage was filmed in Ovchi-Qalacha. The same information about the drone attack was published on Facebook with an announcement warning people not to go into the streets in crowds.
Tajik authorities blamed the Kyrgyz side, which they said "started firing again" and "using drones against the population and social infrastructures."
According to two sources, drones also were used in the Khoja A'lo district in Isfara on the evening of September 16.
There was no comment from the Kyrgyz side about the Tajik claims.
Kyrgyz presidential spokesman Erbol Sultanbaev said that President Sadyr Japarov and his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, discussed the situation while attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in neighboring Uzbekistan.
They agreed to a cease-fire and said a joint commission on the delimitation and demarcation of the border should continue its work. Clashes over the poorly demarcated border are frequent, often flaring up and escalating quickly.
Japarov later flew to Bishkek, where he chaired an extraordinary session of the Security Council focusing on the situation along the border.
The Kyrgyz Border Service said earlier that fighting continued despite the cease-fire agreement.
"Violating the reached agreements, the Tajik side renewed gunfire at Kyrgyz border guards' positions in the settlements of Kulundu and Jany-Jer in the Leilek district," the border service said, adding that the Tajik side used multiple rocket launchers against positions in the Batken district.
Border issues in Central Asia stem to a large extent from the Soviet era when Moscow tried to divide the region between ethnic groups whose settlements were often located amidst those of other ethnicities.
Both countries still host Russian military bases, and Moscow again on September 16 called for a halt in the fighting.
The Kyrgyz border guard service has accused Tajik forces of using tanks, armored personnel carriers, and mortars.
The service also said the Tajik side early on September 16 had shelled suburbs of the regional capital, Batken, and areas close to the city's airport, damaging or fully destroying civil infrastructure.
Tajikistan, in turn, accused Kyrgyz forces of bombarding an outpost and seven villages with "heavy weaponry" in the same area.
A civilian was killed and three injured, authorities in the Tajik city of Isfara said.
Kyrgyzstan's southern Batken Province, which borders Tajikistan's northern Sughd region and features a Tajik exclave, Vorukh, has been a key hotspot in recent conflicts. Tajikistan does not consider Vorukh as an exclave as it believes parts of the disputed segment of the border near it are Tajik territory.
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.