One dead, dozen injured in fresh border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan forces
| 16-Dec-2022 |
Fresh clashes between Afghan and Pakistan forces near the Chaman-Spin Boldak border crossing on Thursday left one dead and more than dozen injured. The firing took place in Balochistan province's Chaman area and "children and women" were also injured.
Pakistani officials said on Thursday, a fresh round of indiscriminate cross border artillery shelling by Afghanistan’s Taliban forces on civilian targets had killed one person and wounded 15 others.
Lately, cross border shelling and gunfire killed eight Pakistani civilians and one Afghan soldier along with 16 injured on Sunday near the same crossing, which connects Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan with the southern Afghan province of Kandhar.
However for Thursdays fight, both governments blamed each other for the attack. The Afghan defence ministry accused Pakistan of initiating the skirmish, adding that Kabul considers dialogue as the only logical way to resolve problems and claimed that Pakistani forces had opened the fire first.
The Chaman border crossing, also known as Friendship Gate, connects Balochistan province to Afghanistan's Kandahar. It was closed last month by Pakistan for more than a week after similar clashes were reported in which one Pakistani soldier was also killed.
Durand Line, the 2600 km International border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, often witnesses periodic skirmish between the two forces. Previous Afghan governments and the new Taliban regime have often objected to Pakistan fencing its border.