Fresh clashes on Pakistan-Afghanistan border kill two, wound several

Individuals collect as they anticipate the border to open after clashes between Afghan and Pakistani safety forces, within the Pakistan-Afghanistan border city of Chaman, Pakistan February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Saeed Ali Achakzai

QUETTA, Pakistan, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Clashes between Afghan and Pakistani safety forces have killed two folks and wounded a number of in a border area of the 2 neighbours, officers mentioned, the most recent in a collection of such skirmishes.

The forces began exchanging fireplace in a dispute over the establishing of a navy examine put up in a southwestern border space that divides Chaman and Spin Boldak districts, three safety officers instructed Reuters.

Each side blamed one another for beginning the clashes that later unfold to a number of close by villages.

“It’s regrettable that the Pakistani safety officers first opened the hearth,” Afghan Taliban authorities spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid mentioned in a tweet.

Two civilians have been killed and 22 wounded on Afghan aspect, an area Taliban spokesman Mohammad Asif Hakimi mentioned. 5 Taliban troopers have been additionally wounded, he mentioned.

“Afghans made the primary transfer and opened unprovoked fireplace on Pakistani troops after they requested Afghan troopers to cease work on a put up situated on Pakistani aspect,” a Pakistani safety official mentioned.

Pakistani officers mentioned a number of wounded included 4 safety officers.

It’s tough to independently confirm claims within the border area, which is off limits to journalists.

Pakistan’s military, which did not reply to a request for remark, has stepped up safety operations alongside the Afghan border in current weeks after a spate of militant assaults. learn extra

Islamist and separatist factions have killed at the very least 14 Pakistani troopers in assaults over the previous month, three of them

carried out by fighters coming into from Afghanistan. learn extra

The Taliban have denied Afghan territory was used to stage the assaults.

Regardless of such assurances, disputes linked to the border have been a bone of rivalry between the neighbours for many years.

The Taliban have tried to dam Pakistan’s plans to complete fencing the two,600 km (1,615 mile) border that was drawn by British colonial rulers for granted for the Pashtun tribes it divided.

It has by no means been recognised by any Afghan authorities.

Writing by Asif Shahzad; Extra reporting by Kabul Newsroom; Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan; Enhancing by Lincoln Feast.

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.