Tajikistan forces ‘kill three terrorists’ after border infiltration from Afghanistan

• The fighters crossed from Afghanistan, resisted the orders.
• Arms, explosives were recovered from the attackers.
• Two Tajik border personnel were also killed in the operation.
  

Tajikistan’s security forces have killed three armed militants who crossed into the country from Afghanistan and refused to lay down their arms.

In a statement, the Press Center of the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan said that the incident occurred on December 23.

“They intended to carry out an armed attack on one of the border posts of the border troops of the State Committee for National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan,” it added.

Tajik security forces immediately located the militants and ordered them to surrender. However, they offered armed resistance, leading forces to kill all three militants in a combat operation, the statement said.

Tajik forces also recovered firearms, including an M-16 rifle, a Kalashnikov assault rifle and three foreign-made pistols fitted with suppressors, ten hand grenades, a night vision device, explosives and other military equipment, from the slain militants.

During the exchange of fire, two members of the Border Army were also killed.

The Press Center of the Border Troops noted that it was the third incident involving an armed attack following an illegal border crossing from Afghanistan to Tajikistan last month.

The Central Asian country has lashed out at the Afghan Taliban regime’s failure to prevent terrorist groups from using its territory to launch terror attacks in neighboring countries.

The incident comes weeks after five Chinese nationals were killed and five others injured in attacks that originated in Afghanistan.

Tajik authorities and China’s embassy in the country said Chinese citizens were targeted by armed and drone attacks.

After the deadly attacks, China’s embassy in Dushanbe, the capital, advised Chinese companies and personnel to urgently evacuate the border area.

Pakistan has repeatedly drawn global attention to increased terrorist safe havens in Afghanistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021.

Islamabad has lost nearly 1,200 lives this year alone to terrorism linked to Afghanistan-based networks, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said earlier this month.

Pakistan-Afghan tensions

The issue of cross-border terrorism escalated after Afghan Taliban and militants launched unprovoked attacks on Pakistani border posts in the night between October 11 and 12.

The clashes resulted in the killing of more than 200 Taliban and militants, while 23 Pakistani soldiers lost their lives defending the motherland.

Pakistan has also carried out “precision strikes” deep inside Afghanistan, targeting terrorist safe havens in Kandahar province and Kabul.

A 48-hour temporary ceasefire was announced on 15 October at the request of Afghanistan, with the two sides finally reaching a formal ceasefire agreement on 19 October in Qatar in talks brokered by Doha and Turkey.

According to the agreement, terrorism from Afghanistan on Pakistani soil should have stopped immediately, with Islamabad and Kabul agreeing to create mechanisms to establish lasting peace and stability between the two countries.

However, subsequent talks in Turkey collapsed after Islamabad refused to accept the Afghan Taliban delegation’s “absurd” arguments and refusal to address Islamabad’s concerns about cross-border terrorism.

However, mediators convinced Pakistan to give the talks another chance, which eventually resulted in an agreement to uphold the ceasefire.