Vorukh-Isfara road reopens; Tajik authorities take seriously wounded persons out of Vorukh

The Tajik authority reportedly took the seriously wounded persons, including Abdurasoul Shomirsaidov, the chief of the investigative department of the Interior Ministry’s office for Sughd, and two civilians, out of Vorukh to Isfara today early in the morning, at around 2:00 am.

An official source at the Isfara administration says Shomirsaidov has to have an emergency surgery that can be done only in Isfara or Khujand.  

Yesterday evening, the Tajik side reportedly unblocked the Isfana-Osh high.  According to Kyrgyz online news agency Turmush.kg, the highway was unblocked at 11:00 pm after talks between Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Jenish Razakov and his Tajik counterpart, Azim Ibrohim.  The talks were held yesterday in Batken's Dacha district.  

Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Kyrgyz Service, citing police in Kyrgyzstan’s southern Batken region bordering Tajikistan, says three Kyrgyz police officers were injured yesterday in clashes with residents of the Kyrgyz village of Ak-Sai when police tried to stop Ak-Sai villagers’  efforts to block a road connecting the Kyrgyz village of Ak-Sai with the Tajik exclave of Vorukh.  Residents reportedly used sticks and stones to attack police, who used sound grenades to disperse the crowd.

Many border areas in Central Asia's former Soviet republics have been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan meet.