15:49, 15 сентября 2023, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Baktygul OSMONALIEVA
A meeting — requiem in memory of the victims of the border conflicts in April 2021 and September 2022 took place in Batken.
A memorial was erected in the city, which consists of plates with the names of 111 Kyrgyzstanis who were killed during the invasion of Kyrgyzstan. A monument to 12-year-old Madina Rakhmatzhanova, who was killed on April 29, 2021 by shell fragments, is in the center of the memorial. This happened when the Tajik military fired at International village. Madina, along with her mother and younger sister, tried to escape from the village, but did not have time — a mortar shell exploded near them.
The event was attended by local residents, relatives of killed servicemen, and the Chairman of the State Committee for National Security.
Kamchybek Tashiev noted that «the state is making everything possible and taking all possible measures to ensure that such events do not recur.»
Clashes began on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border on April 28, 2021. The stone-throwing escalated into a firefight, which involved army units and heavy equipment. The Tajik military entered the territory of Leilek and Batken districts. For three days, houses in Kyrgyz villages were robbed and burned. The parties finally agreed on a truce and withdrawal of troops only on the evening of May 1. Some 36 people were killed, 168 were injured, 24 of them became disabled in Kyrgyzstan. 44 children were left without parents. At least 120 houses and 84 social facilities were destroyed in the Kyrgyz border villages.
On the morning of September 16, 2022, shooting began in several sections of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border. Populated areas in Leilek and Batken districts came under fire. Hundreds of Kyrgyzstanis were injured, 63 people were killed, many servicemen were among the dead. 420 houses of Batken residents were destroyed.