DUSHANBE. Dec 28 (Interfax-AVN) - A married Tajik couple have been killed in an anti-personnel mine explosion on the Tajik-Uzbek border, the Tajik Center for Mine Issues said on Monday.
"The anti-personnel mine explosion killed Tajik citizen Oybek Ibragimov and his wife, Zarifa Karimova. They lived in the village of Zarkhok in the Isfara district, 250 kilometers from Dushanbe," the center said.
The couple was collecting firewood in an unarmed border zone, locals said.
The center announced in March 2009 that Tajikistan would fail to clear its territory from anti-personnel mines and dud munitions by the beginning of 2010. Tajikistan asked for postponing the fulfilling of the Ottawa Convention.
Anti-personnel mines have injured 797 people in Tajikistan since 1992, including 354 deadly attacks. Mines were planted in eastern areas of Tajikistan, the battlefield of the Civil War of 1992-1997, and on the border with Uzbekistan.
The majority of victims are civilians, who wander into mine fields by mistake while collecting firewood or fodder for cattle. The borderline is unmarked and there are no mine warning signs. Uzbekistan planted the mines along the border for fear of possible incursions of Tajik militants during and after the Civil War.