Russian patrol kills five Afghan smugglers

The authorities in Tajikistan say five Afghan drug smugglers trying to cross into Tajikistan have been killed by Russian border guards in an exchange of gunfire.

The smugglers were allegedly carrying thirty kilograms of heroin and a Kalashnikov rifle.

Officials said they were discovered on a self-made raft on the Pyandhz River stretch of the Afghan-Tajik border, and opened fire when they saw the border patrol.

The Russian guards were said to have returned fire, killing all five. Russia has about twenty-five thousand troops in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, helping guard a major route for drugs and weapons into Europe. About five hundred kilograms of narcotics have been seized from smugglers on the Afghan-Tajik border so far this year.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service