Citing a statement by the Border Troops of the Tajik State Committee for National Security, state news agency Khovar reported that three people crossed into the country late on Tuesday in the Shamsiddin Shohin district of the country’s southwestern Khatlon region, and were later located on Wednesday.
“The terrorists refused to obey orders from Tajik border guards to surrender and offered armed resistance. They intended to carry out an armed attack on one of the border posts of the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan,” the statement said.
“As a result of the combat operation, all three terrorists were neutralised,” the statement said, adding that two Tajik border officers were killed during the clashes.
According to the statement, this was the third “armed attack, terrorist act, and border crossing” from Afghanistan in the past month.
It also accused the Afghan government of “demonstrating serious and repeated irresponsibility and non-commitment in fulfilling its international obligations and consistent promises to ensure security and stability” on the Tajik-Afghan border.
The Tajik statement additionally expressed hope that the Afghan administration will “apologise to the people of Tajikistan and take additional effective measures to ensure security on the border with Tajikistan”.
Afghanistan did not immediately comment on the development.
Earlier this month, Tajikistan said five people were killed and five others injured in two previous cross-border attacks from Afghanistan.
On Wednesday, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon commissioned four new border outposts, as well as a training range for tanks at the Harb-Maidon training ground near the Tajik-Afghan border, as part of efforts to bolster border security amid growing concerns over cross-border attacks.
At least five Chinese workers in Tajikistan were killed in an attack launched from Afghanistan near the border, Tajik authorities said last month on Thursday( Nov 27,2025).
Tajikistan has strained relations with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and several border clashes have broken out in recent months.
The foreign ministry said a drone and firearm attack hit workers of a Chinese company in the country’s south.’
“The attack, carried out with firearms and a drone loaded with grenades, claimed the lives of three employees of Chinese nationality,” it said in a statement.
Dushanbe rarely comments officially on such incidents, and it did not say who it suspects carried out the attack.
Militants are active in the mountainous border region, which spans around 1,350 kilometres between the two countries.
Muslim-majority Tajikistan, one of the poorest countries in the former Soviet Union, has been concerned about possible flare-ups in extremism since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, in power since 1992, is openly critical of the Taliban and urged the group to respect the rights of ethnic Tajiks, estimated to make up around a quarter of Afghanistan’s 40-million population.
At the same time, Tajikistan has cautiously engaged in some areas, including through diplomatic meetings, the opening of markets in border towns and supplying electricity.
Tajikistan’s foreign ministry said on Thursday, “Criminal groups located in the neighbouring country (Afghanistan) continue to commit acts aimed at destabilising the situation in the border regions.”
Several Chinese companies operate in Tajikistan, particularly in mining and natural resources, often located in the mountainous border areas.
One Chinese worker was killed last year in a similar attack near the Afghan border.