Border Guards Kill 20 Drug Suspects

Russian border guards protecting the Tajik-Afghan border killed 20 suspected drug traffickers trying to cross from Afghanistan, officials said Thursday.

The shootout occurred Wednesday when border guards tried to stop a caravan from crossing the Pyandzh River dividing the two countries.

Instead of stopping, the suspects opened fire with automatic weapons, said Lt. Col. Andrei Alyoshin, spokesman for the Russian border guard troops in Moscow.

The border troops suffered no casualties, he said.

Russia has about 25,000 troops in Tajikistan propping up President Emomali Rakhmonov’s government and protecting the border with Afghanistan.

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