Tajik officials claim the Chinese workers were killed in a drone and gun attack from Afghanistan, raising tensions in Tajikistan’s volatile border region
News Desk
DUSHANBE: Three Chinese workers were killed in Tajikistan on Thursday in an attack launched from neighboring Afghanistan, officials said, highlighting the persistent security risks along the mountainous border between the two countries. The incident, carried out with firearms and a drone reportedly loaded with grenades, targeted employees of a Chinese company operating in Tajikistan’s southern region.
Tajikistan’s foreign ministry confirmed the deaths in a statement, describing the assault as part of ongoing attempts by criminal groups in Afghanistan to destabilize the border region. “The attack, carried out with firearms and a drone loaded with grenades, claimed the lives of three employees of Chinese nationality,” the ministry said, though it did not identify specific suspects. Dushanbe, which rarely comments officially on such incidents, has faced several clashes along the roughly 1,350-kilometre frontier in recent months.
The border region is known to be active with jihadist and criminal networks, taking advantage of the rugged terrain that stretches along the Tajik–Afghan boundary. Muslim-majority Tajikistan, one of the poorest countries of the former Soviet Union, has long expressed concern over the potential spread of extremism, particularly since the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul in 2021.
President Emomali Rahmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992, has been openly critical of the Taliban, calling on the group to respect the rights of ethnic Tajiks in Afghanistan, who make up roughly a quarter of the country’s 40 million population. At the same time, Tajikistan has pursued cautious engagement with its southern neighbor, including diplomatic meetings, the opening of border markets, and the provision of electricity to Afghan towns across the frontier.
Tajikistan’s foreign ministry emphasized on Thursday that “criminal groups located in the neighboring country continue to commit acts aimed at destabilizing the situation in the border regions,” signaling persistent security concerns despite tentative cross-border cooperation. Several Chinese companies operate in Tajikistan, particularly in mining and natural resource projects often located in these remote and mountainous areas.
The latest attack follows a similar incident last year, when a Chinese worker was killed near the Afghan border, underscoring the ongoing dangers faced by foreign nationals in the region. The deaths are likely to raise fresh questions about the safety of commercial operations in Tajikistan’s border areas, where longstanding geopolitical tensions and the presence of militant groups continue to complicate regional stability.
