Intense clashes resumed on the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border, despite a cease-fire between the two countries, the former's border service said Friday.
In a statement, the Kyrgyz border service said its forces were continuing to repel Tajik attacks. Both countries have accused each other of restarting fighting in a disputed area.
Separately, the head of the Kyrgyz state committee on national security was quoted by Russia's RIA news agency as saying military casualties had been high.
The two sides had agreed to a halt to fighting and Kyrgyzstan said the countries' leaders had met and decided to withdraw their forces after clashes broke out along their disputed border.
Fighting regularly flares up between the two mountainous Central Asian countries that share a 970-kilometer-long (600-mile-long) border, with around half of the frontier contested.
In 2021, unprecedented clashes between the two sides killed 50 people.
The latest violence, which had revived fears of an all-out conflict, had already forced thousands to flee their homes.
But the cease-fire deal was in tatters Friday after each side accused the other of using heavy weapons to target homes, border posts or civilian infrastructure along border areas.
Kyrgyzstan said Tajik forces had fired on the southwest frontier region of Batken with rocket launchers and opened fire on border guard posts.
A Tajikistan government news portal, citing its border guard service, said Kyrgyz forces were reinforcing their positions and had opened fire on three border villages.
The meeting between Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov and his Tajikistan counterpart Emomali Rahmon in Uzbekistan came as Russia offered to mediate.
Moscow called for "urgent" measures to halt the fighting, which has killed several people and wounded dozens more.
Russia's Foreign Ministry offered to hold talks with the countries, urging both sides to take "urgent measures" to find a political solution.
