A Russian border guard and six Afghan heroin smugglers have been killed in an overnight clash on the Tajik-Afghan border.
Russia's border patrol service today (Friday) said the incident occurred in an area (Pyandzh), about 230 kilometers south of Tajikistan's capital, Dushanbe.
Tajikistan has become a major trafficking route for drugs entering Russia and western Europe from Afghanistan.
Russian guards patrol most of the Tajik-Afghan border under terms of a 1992 agreement between Moscow and Dushanbe.