Clashes at PakistanAfghan border, multiple casualties
Islamabad, Kabul accuse each other of harbouring militants
QUETTA: Clashes erupted between Pakistani and Afghan troops on Friday along their disputed border, with many casualties reported, in another blow to already tense relations between the neighbours.
Pakistan’s military said the clashes broke out in a remote village near the border town of Chaman as a census team, guarded by troops from its Frontier Corps (FC), was collecting population figures.
“Afghan border police opens fire on FC detailed for security of population census team,” a release by the media wing of the Pakistan Army said. “Exchange of fire continues. Chaman crossing closed.”
The Chaman crossing into Afghanistan’s Kandahar province is one of two main crossing points on the border.
While the military said one person had been killed, media reports said as many as nine people had died in the exchange of fire, with another 45 injured.
Afghan officials reported six people died on their side of the border, while another 37 were wounded .
The Pakistan Army said Afghan border police had been “creating hurdles” since April 30 for the census team in Chaman area.
“This was done despite the fact that Afghan authorities had been informed well in advance and coordination was carried out through diplomatic and military channels for conduct of the census,” the military said.
Gen. Abdul Raziq, the police chief in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, blamed Pakistan for initiating the gunbattle. He accused Islamabad of using the census as a mask to conceal the crossing of militants from Pakistan into Afghanistan.
In Islamabad, the foreign ministry said it had summoned Afghanistan’s chargé d’affaires to complain about the firing.
Tension has been increasing in recent months amid new exchanges of accusations of not doing enough to tackle militants engaging in cross-border raids. Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of sheltering Afghan Taliban militants on its soil.
Pakistan officially denies the claims.