Several killed in Pak-Afghan border clashes
chaman — At least nine people were killed and over 40 others injured as Afghan border forces opened fire on security personnel guarding a census team in Balochistan’s Chaman area early on Friday, reports Dawn online.
Chaman Civil Hospital’s medical superintendent, Dr Akhtar, said that five children and three women were among those killed, whereas police confirmed that four Frontier Corps (FC) personnel are among the injured.
Dr Akhtar added that over 40 people had been injured, with five critically wounded victims sent to Quetta for medical treatment.
In a Press statement issued on Friday afternoon, the army’s media wing said the exchange of firing had stopped and Pakistan and Afghan security officials would be meeting on the Chaman crossing for a flag meeting.
Chaman city was also shut down following the attack, with shopkeepers closing their shops and residents evacuating their homes in the Killi Luqman, Killi Jahangir and Badshah Adda Kahol areas, Killa Abdullah’s district police officer (DPO) Sajid Mohmand, said.
Security had also been ramped up in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan following the cross-border attack, and additional contingents of the army and FC had been dispatched to Chaman.
The Foreign Office (FO) also summoned the Afghan chargé d’affaires to lodge a protest against the cross-border attack.
The chargé d’affaires was told that the “unprovoked firing by Afghan forces had led to the loss of lives, disrupted the census in areas on the Pakistan side of the border and caused damage to properties,” a statement released by the FO said.
The FO urged the Afghan government to take action against those responsible for the violation.
Samim Khpalwak, spokesman for the governor of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, in a statement said that one Afghan civilian and three border police personnel were wounded in the exchange of fire. He added that the scuffle was ongoing, with “dozens” of Afghan security forces rushing to the scene.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) had earlier released a statement saying the Afghan border police opened fire on FC personnel detailed for the security of a census team in Chaman despite the fact that Afghan authorities had been informed in advance about the census exercise in Pakistan and coordination was carried out through diplomatic and military channels.
“Since April 30, Afghan Border Police had been creating hurdles in (the) conduct of census in divided villages of Killi Luqman and Killi Jahangir in Chaman area, on Pakistani side of the border,” the military’s media wing said.