Four smugglers killed on Tajik border

Police in Tajikistan say they have killed four drug smugglers and seized more than 90kg of heroin.

More than 30 smugglers have been killed so far this year in clashes on the Tajik-Afghan border, which is patrolled by Russian guards under an agreement signed by Moscow and Dushanbe.

Tajikistan, one of the poorest of the central Asian states, is regarded as a key trafficking route for drugs entering Russia and Western Europe from Afghanistan.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service