Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called on Central Asian neighbours Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to investigate "apparent war crimes" committed by both sides last year during deadly clashes on their contested border.
Around 100 people died in the fighting in September 2022, the latest escalation of violence between the two mountainous countries whose frontier communities regularly clash over land and water supplies.
Border disputes have dogged the former Soviet republics through their three decades of independence. Part of their 970-kilometre (600-mile) border is still to be demarcated.
"Forces from both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan killed and injured civilians in apparent war crimes during their brief but intense armed border conflict in September 2022," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a press release for its new report.
The report called on "Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to investigate these violations by their own forces and to hold those responsible to account."
The rights organisation added that it had interviewed dozens of people on both sides of the border, reviewed medical records along with photos and video, analysed satellite imagery and constructed 3D models of attacks.
According to HRW, "Kyrgyz forces shot at ambulances and private cars carrying families trying to flee and dropped a laser-guided bomb on a town square, killing at least 10 civilians."
"Tajik forces shot at cars carrying civilians and unlawfully killed at least eight civilians in different circumstances, and large-scale looting and burning of private property took place in Kyrgyz villages," it added.
Progress has been slow on resolving the border issue despite regular meetings between the two sides.
Previous clashes in April 2021 left 50 dead and raised fears of a large-scale conflict.
