Quetta, Pakistan - Clashes erupted between
Pakistani and Afghan troops on Friday along their disputed
border killing several people, officials said, in another blow
to already tense relations between the neighbours.
Pakistan's foreign ministry summoned Afghanistan's charge
d’affaires in Islamabad to protest, calling the firing
"unprovoked" and saying several people died, without specifying
numbers.
Pakistan's military said the clashes broke out in a remote
village near the border town of Chaman as a Pakistani census
team, guarded by troops from its Frontier Corps (FC), was
collecting population figures. It said at least one person was
killed.
"Afghan border police opens fire on FC detailed for security
of population census team," said Pakistan military's media wing,
adding that 18 people were wounded.
"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.
A doctor in a hospital in Chaman told Reuters that three
people had been killed in the fighting.
Zia Durani, police spokesman for Afghanistan's Kandahar
province, said Pakistani officials were using the census as a
cover for "malicious activities and to provoke villagers against
the government".
"They did not heed the warning and we have clear orders to
engage them," Durani said, adding two Afghan border police were
wounded.
Relations between the countries have been uneasy since
Pakistan's independence in 1947. Afghanistan has traditionally
enjoyed better ties with Pakistan's arch rival, India.
Afghanistan has for years accused Pakistan of sheltering
Afghan Taliban militants on its soil. Pakistan officially denies
that even though various Taliban leaders have over the years
been killed, died and detained in Pakistan.
Tension has been increasing in recent months amid new
exchanges of accusations of not doing enough to tackle militants
engaging in cross-border raids.
Pakistan's military said Afghan border police had been
"creating hurdles" since April 30 for the census team in the
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.
Last year, Pakistan started building a barrier at the main
border crossing in the town of Torkham, near the Khyber Pass,
angering Afghanistan which rejects the colonial-era Durand Line
border drawn up in 1893.
Afghanistan has never formally recognised the line as the
border.