Uzbek sappers are demining the Uzbek-Tajik border jointly with Tajik counterparts in the direction of the cities of Penjikent and Samarkand, the head of the press-center of the Tajik Committee for National Security, Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Ulughodjaev told Asia Plus.
According to him, a joint group of the two governments has been formed before the demining, which included the officials of the Border Guards of the National Security Committee, the Ministry of Defense and the National Mine Center of Tajikistan and got acquainted with the map of the mined areas presented by Tashkent.
In the meantime, the information on which sections of the Uzbek-Tajik border had been mined and what is their total surface remains classified.
Earlier during the first state visit of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to Tajikistan in March of this year, the two leaders agreed that demining of the shared border would be completed by the end of 2019.
Uzbekistan mined the mountainous parts of the shared border with Tajikistan in the 90s of the last century. Then the official Tashkent explained such actions to prevent the alleged penetration of the militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan into its territory.
According to the National Mining Center of Tajikistan, in general, over the past twenty years, a total of 374 Tajik citizens have been killed and another 485 people were injured: the tragedies occurred not only on the Tajik-Uzbek border, but also inside the country.
