Civilian Killings On Afghanistan-Pakistan Border

According to Pakistan, six civilians were murdered and at least 17 others were hurt by Afghan Taliban troops in an "unprovoked" bombing and gunfire attack on a border village on Sunday.

Pakistan's military protested the strike at Chaman, claiming that the Afghan side fired "indiscriminately."

Forces from Pakistan reacted. A single Afghan soldier died. The two sides debate the specific cause of the altercation at the border crossing, which is unknown.

But since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan last year, there have been rising tensions about security between the neighbouring nations. Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, stated that the action in Afghanistan "deserve[d] the greatest condemnation."

The Durand Line, which separates the two countries, was arbitrarily defined by the British in 1893. Afghanistan and the millions of Pashtun residents who live on either side of it dispute its existence.

According to Reuters news agency's citation of Afghan security officials, the incident took place as a result of Pakistan's demand that Afghan border forces halt erecting a checkpoint on their side of the border.

According to unnamed Afghan government officials quoted by the AFP news agency, tensions erupted after Afghan soldiers attempted to cut a portion of a border barrier.

Both the Taliban, who seized control last year, and the previous Afghan government had opposed Pakistan's construction of a large fence along the border since 2017. Pictures taken on Sunday from the border town showed persons who had been hurt by artillery fire as well as the burning wreckage of destroyed cars and harmed roadways.

"A mortar shell landed and caused a huge fireball. After that, I lost consciousness and don't know what happened," one hospitalized victim said.

A Taliban member's death and 10 injuries were reported by the governor of Kandahar. Following the gunshot, the crossing was declared closed; but, according to authorities, it was reopened later on Sunday when representatives from both sides met.

Conflicts have previously occurred near the Chaman crossing, one of the main transit sites that connects Pakistan and Afghanistan and are frequented by thousands of people every day. After a shooter killed a Pakistani security guard last month, it was shut down for eight days.

According to Pakistani officials, strikes carried out by Pakistani militant organizations from Afghan territory have increased since the Taliban seized power. They have also charged the new Taliban administration of providing cover for those organizations in Afghanistan. The Taliban dispute this.

Two weeks ago, gunmen assaulted Pakistan's embassy in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, in what Islamabad characterized as an attempt to assassinate its top diplomat.