KULOB, February 28, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Two officers from Tajik counternarcotics agency have been killed and three border guards have been wounded in a skirmish with Afghan drug traffickers in Khatlon’s Shuroobod district.

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the chairman of the Shuroobod district Ibrohim Azizov said that the skirmish took place near the border village of Sari Mazor on the night of February 27-28.  “According to the preliminary data, the armed group of Afghan drug traffickers consisted of some 30 persons,” said Azizov.  “The wounded border guards were taken to the central district hospital in Shuroobod.  They are currently in serious health condition.”

A chief spokesman for the Drug Control Agency (DCA) Sadullo Rahmatulloyev told Asia-Plus that two officers from the Kulob counternarcotics directorate Abdushuku Halimov and Umedjon Barotov had been killed in the skirmish.  According to him, three sacks containing different narcotic drugs were found at the scene of action.