Four Militants Killed Crossing Into Tajikistan From Afghanistan: Statement

Tajik border troops killed four armed men who crossed into Tajikistan from Afghanistan overnight, Tajik authorities said on Sunday, while local sources said the identities of those killed remain unclear, The Caspian Post reports, citing Amu TV.

In a statement, the press centre of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan said the men crossed the border at around 0030 local time in Shamsiddin Shohin district, near Afghanistan’s border.

The statement said the men ignored orders to surrender and opened fire, prompting a combat operation in which all four were killed. Tajik authorities described them as members of a “terrorist organisation.”

Border troops seized three Kalashnikov assault rifles, a foreign-made pistol, ammunition, mobile phones, a radio communication device and a boat, the statement said.

Tajik authorities said a criminal investigation had been launched under terrorism, illegal border crossing and weapons trafficking statutes, adding that the situation along the border was under control.

However, local sources from within the Taliban’s security forces in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan told Amu TV that Tajik forces killed four armed men near the border in Khwahan district as they attempted to enter Tajikistan illegally.

The sources said the men were killed during a clash after being intercepted by Tajik border guards. They added that it was not yet clear whether the men belonged to an armed group, and suggested they may have been drug traffickers.

The sources said weapons and military equipment were recovered from the men, though details of the arms seized were not immediately available.

Tajikistan and Afghanistan share a long and porous border that has been a transit route for militant groups and drug traffickers, particularly in the mountainous Badakhshan region.

Separately, local sources in Badakhshan said work on a road project linking the province to China had been suspended due to heavy snowfall and extreme cold weather.