One dead as fresh clashes erupt between Afghan, Pakistani border forces

By Gul Yousafzai

QUETTA, Pakistan -Clashes erupted as soon as once more between the border forces of Afghanistan and Pakistan close to the important thing Chaman-Spin Boldak border crossing on Thursday, leading to one loss of life and over a dozen accidents, Pakistani officers mentioned.

Beforehand, cross-border shelling and gunfire killed eight Pakistani civilians and one Afghan soldier on Sunday close to the identical crossing, which connects Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan with the southern Afghan province of Kandahar.

Thursday’s combating began when Pakistani forces repairing a portion of the border fence broken throughout Sunday’s clashes got here beneath assault from the Afghan aspect of the frontier, a provincial official Balochistan, Zahid Saleem, instructed Reuters.

Either side blamed one another for instigating Sunday’s clashes.

Afghanistan’s ministry of defence, run by the Taliban administration, mentioned in a submit on Twitter that Pakistani forces had opened fireplace first, and referred to as for a decision of the difficulty by negotiations.

“Destructive actions and creating excuses for conflict will profit nobody,” the ministry mentioned.

Saleem, who's further chief secretary of the province, mentioned Afghan mortar shells had landed in civilian settlements on the Pakistani aspect.

“One civilian has been killed and 12 others, together with girls and youngsters, have been injured,” a neighborhood official of the Pakistani border space of Chaman mentioned, including that clashes have been nonetheless ongoing.

The police spokesman of the Afghan province of Kandahar didn't reply to a Reuters request for touch upon the casualties.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have for many years had territorial disputes at their border and the Chaman crossing was closed for a number of days after comparable clashes final month.

Chaman-Spin Boldak is the second busiest crossing between the 2 nations and a key commerce route by which massive portions of important items transfer out and in of landlocked Afghanistan.