DUSHANBE (AFP) -- Tajik border guards killed two traffickers of Afghan drugs and seized some 200 kilograms of drugs, including 107 kilograms of heroin, in a series of operations on the border, officials said.

Some 13 more traffickers managed to escape back into Afghanistan, officials added Thursday.

In all, 3.7 tons of drugs have been seized this year in Tajikistan, including 1.6 tons of heroin.

Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, neighbors Afghanistan, the world's leading heroin producer, and has become a centre for smuggling Afghan drugs to Russia and the West.