Tajikistan leader slams 'provocative Afghan actions'

Five Chinese nationals have been killed and another five injured in Tajikistan in a series of attacks launched from neighbouring Afghanistan over the past week, Tajik authorities and China's embassy said on Monday.

The latest incident occurred on Sunday near the Afghan border, where two Chinese citizens were killed in an armed assault. On Friday, three others were killed in another attack, which Tajik authorities said involved grenades dropped from drones targeting Chinese nationals.

Following the attacks, China's embassy in Dushanbe advised its companies and personnel to urgently evacuate the border areas.

Details remain scarce about Sunday's assault, but Afghan authorities last week blamed an unnamed group seeking to create instability and pledged cooperation with Tajik counterparts. There was no immediate response on Monday from the Kabul authorities to the latest Tajik statement.

President Emomali Rahmon met with heads of security agencies to discuss measures to strengthen border security. His press service said Rahmon "strongly condemned the illegal and provocative actions of Afghan citizens and ordered that effective measures be taken to resolve the problem and prevent a recurrence of such incidents."

The series of cross-border attacks highlights the ongoing volatility in the region, where millions of Tajiks, a Persian-speaking population, live across Afghanistan's border. Tajikistan maintains tense relations with the Afghan Taliban while relying on close security ties with Russia.

(WITH INPUT FROM NEWS DESK)