DUSHANBE. April 28 (Interfax) - A serviceman of the Tajik National Security Committee's Border Forces was killed in an armed clash with Afghan smugglers in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region early on Friday morning, the committee's press service said.
"At 1:30 a.m., an armed group of eight transnational smugglers [...] carrying large quantities of drugs, as well as weapons and ammunition, crossed the state border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan at the 184th mark in the zone protected by the 9th Tishor border outpost of the Khorog border unit," the press service said.
According to the press service, the smugglers disobeyed Tajik border guards' order and opened fire instead of surrendering. The fire was returned and forced the trespassers to drop the drugs, weapons and ammo and run back into Afghanistan.
"Three accomplices of Afghan smugglers, citizens of the Republic of Tajikistan, were detained at the incident scene," the press service said.
Forty-five kilograms of heroin, a Kalashnikov rifle with four magazines, 74 rounds, a night-vision device, and $10,000 in cash were found at the scene, it said.
"Regretfully, a serviceman was killed in the shootout with the Afghan smugglers," the press service said.
This is the second armed clash between Tajik law enforcers and Afghan fighters in Badakhshan. According to the press center, two members of an international terrorist network illegally crossed the Tajik-Afghan border in the morning of April 26. The incident happened in the security zone of the 11th border outpost of the Darvoz border unit.
"The terrorists were killed in a joint antiterrorist operation of the republic's law enforcement agencies. Two Kalashnikov rifles, two foreign-made handguns, eight grenades, 12 magazines, 19 packs of explosives, two specialized communication devices, and two mobile phones of the terrorists were found at the incident scene and seized," the press service said.