Border clashes flare up between Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan

Tajik forces are attacking Kyrgyz outposts along the whole length of the border and Kyrgyz troops are returning fire, Kyrgyzstan's border guard service has said, an unusual escalation of tensions between the two neighbours.

Kyrgyz border guards were returning fire as clashes took place along the whole length of the border, it said on Friday. 

The fresh clashes took place as both nations' leaders are attending a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Uzbekistan this week alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chinese leader Xi Jinping as well as a host of other world leaders.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmo appeared together with a number of other leaders, in a group photo at dinner on Thursday.

Two Tajik border guards were killed in similar clashes earlier this week but the countries, both of which host Russian military bases, appeared to have ceased hostilities afterward.

The Kyrgyz and Tajik frontier communities regularly clash over land and water supplies, with border guards often involved.

Last year’s violence between the two militaries was unprecedented, leaving more than 50 people dead and raising fears of a wider conflict.

Almost half of the pair's 970-km border is disputed and progress on delimitation in recent years has been glacial.