• Chinese media reports Beijing urges its citizens in Tajikistan to evacuate border areas with neighboring Afghanistan

ISTANBUL

Tajikistan announced on Monday that five people were killed and five others injured in the country due to cross-border attacks from neighboring Afghanistan over the past week.

“According to a report from officials, over the past week, two incidents of shelling from the Afghan side into Tajikistan occurred, resulting in the deaths of five people and the injury of five others,” said a presidential statement, following a meeting between President Emomali Rahmon and the heads of the country's security and law enforcement agencies.

Expressing that Rahmon and the officials discussed on Monday the current situation on the Tajik-Afghan border and measures to strengthen its security, the statement said Rahmon condemned the “illegal and provocative actions of Afghan citizens.”

The statement added that the Tajik president went on to instruct officials to take “effective measures to resolve the situation and prevent a recurrence of such incidents.”

The meeting in Dushanbe comes after the Tajik Foreign Ministry said Thursday that three Chinese workers were killed when a drone, launched “from the territory of Afghanistan,” struck a camp in Tajikistan’s southeastern Khatlon region late Wednesday.

The statement expressed “deep concerns” and condemnation over the incident, calling on “ruling Afghan authorities to take effective measures to ensure stability and security on the state border between two neighboring countries.”

Earlier Monday, the Global Times reported that China’s Embassy in Tajikistan urged Chinese enterprises and personnel to evacuate border areas in the Central Asian nation following what it described as an armed attack in the country’s autonomous eastern region of Gorno-Badakhshan late Sunday, resulting in an unspecified number of casualties among Chinese citizens.

“Other Chinese nationals in Tajikistan should avoid traveling to these areas and take proper safety precautions,” the report cited the embassy as saying on the WeChat platform, adding that citizens should contact local law enforcement immediately and seek assistance from the embassy in case of emergency.

Also on Monday, the Chinese Embassy said its ambassador held urgent contacts late Sunday with Tajik authorities, including Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin, during which he urged Dushanbe to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of Chinese enterprises and nationals in Tajikistan.

The statement added that Tajikistan strongly condemned the attacks against Chinese citizens, confirming it would “immediately upgrade its security measures to fully protect the safety of Chinese enterprises and citizens.”

Kabul has yet to comment on Dushanbe's latest statement, but it expressed its "deep sorrow" to China, as well as Tajikistan, regarding the "tragic" killing of three Chinese nationals in an earlier statement.

According to the statement by Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry on Friday, Kabul assured Tajikistan of its "full cooperation and stands ready for information-sharing, technical collaboration, and joint assessments in order to identify those responsible for the incident."