DUSHANBE, December 18, 2013, Asia-Plus -- A fire broke out in a country cottage in the Chaikana area not far from the Kyrgyz-Tajik border on December 17, 2013.

The country cottage belongs to Kyrgyz national and residents of the Kyrgyz village of Ak-Sai in the Batken district suspect that Tajik citizens set fire to the cottage, Kyrgyz border service’s press center reports.

Kyrgyz and Tajik citizens have reportedly blocked the Isfara-Vorukh road.  “Some 200 people have gathered on both sides of the road,” Kyrgyz border service’s press center said, noting that regional officials of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will meet in order to stabilize the situation.

Meanwhile, Iqbol Teshayev, a spokesman for the Tajik northern city of Isfara, says that Isfara Mayor Davron Zohidov and Deputy Governor of the Tajik northern province of Sughd Jumaboy Sanginov are currently in Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region to resolve the incident.  Teshayev has confirmed that the Isfara-Vorukh road is currently blocked.  

Vorukh is a jamoat in northern Tajikistan. It is located in Isfara district in Sughd province.  Vorukh forms part of an exclave of Tajikistan within Kyrgyzstan. There are several such enclaves, and they all come from Stalin''s drawing of borders in the 1930s.