BATKEN OBLAST, Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyz and Tajik troops are holding joint tactical live-fire exercises in the Kyrgyz Defence Ministry’s Buzhum training centre June 17-20, Kyrgyz Defence Ministry spokeswoman Ayzada Igibayeva told Central Asia Online June 17.

The exercises are meant to build trust in military matters and in co-ordination of efforts against new threats and challenges to regional security, she said. They involve the two countries’ troops planning a military operation and containing and eliminating hypothetical illegal armed groups.

Further exercises are planned in Tajikistan in August or September and will include Kazakhstani troops.