MONDAY, MAY 14, 2007 4:08 MECCA TIME, 1:08 GMT Pakistan and Afghan troops clash Pakistan's move to fence parts of the border has angered Afghanistan [AFP]
Pakistani and Afghan troops have clashed along their border with both sides claiming a different number of casualties and blaming the other for sparking off the most border clash in years. Pakistan claimed it killed five Afghan soldiers but Afghanistan said only two civilians and no soldiers were killed in Sunday's gun battle. Major-General Waheed Arshad, a Pakistan army spokesman, blamed the Afghan army for "unprovoked" gunfire at about six Pakistani border posts in Kurram agency, a Pakistani tribal region opposite Afghanistan's Paktia province. He said three Pakistani soldiers were wounded. A Pakistan military statement said troops from its Frontier Corps returned fire and five Afghan National army soldiers were killed. Tensions have been running high between Afghanistan and Pakistan over controlling the 2,430-km border and stemming the flow of Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters that take refugee in Pakistan and stage cross-border attacks inside Afghanistan. Contradicting claims Pakistan's move to fence parts of the disputed frontier has also angered Afghanistan. General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, Afghanistan's defence ministry spokesman, accused Pakistani forces of encroaching 2-3km inside Paktia province's Jajai district. "Border police tried to stop them, and the Pakistani army started firing heavy weapons toward the Afghan forces," he said. Earlier, General Abdul Rahman, the chief of the Afghan border police, said five policemen were wounded. A local official said heavy weapons fire hit the village of Kubki and a school, bazaar and clinic in Gul Ghundi village, wounding villagers and students. "The Pakistanis launched artillery, shot their guns, and they left behind civilian casualties in the area," Rahmatullah Rahmat, Paktia's governor, said. "It is a clear violation - crossing the border to attack Afghanistan." He said Afghan forces only fired back with assault rifles. Pakistan has denied trespassing into Afghan territory or hitting civilian targets. Source: Agencies Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
