Afghan forces continue shelling

Published August 24, 2003

MOHMAND AGENCY, Aug 23: The Afghan militia continued shelling on a Pakistan security post on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border with light weapons on the second consecutive day on Saturday.

According to official sources, the Afghan militia started firing on the post at 9am in the morning which continued for half an hour. The Pakistan forces manning the border didn’t make any retaliation.

At 11am, Pakistan forces traded fire with the provocative Afghan militia near Yaqoobi Kandao which continued for 20 minutes. Neither side claimed any loss of life.

The Afghan militia has been making attacks on the border since June, the day Pakistan security forces were deployed on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to check sneaking of terrorists into Pakistan.

A tripartite commission comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States was trying to solve the issue through negotiations. After the rising tension on the border, all the three countries agreed to resolve it through trilateral talks.

AFGHAN OFFICER HELD: Pakistani border authorities have arrested a senior officer of the Afghan Army at Pakistan-Afghan border when he crossed into Pakistan on Saturday evening, Saleem Shahid reports from Quetta.

“Yes, we have arrested an officer of Afghan army inside Pakistani border area,” a spokesman of Frontier Corps in Chaman town confirmed.

According to sources the officer was taken into custody by Pakistani authorities was identified as Col Haji Mohammad and he belongs to 7th Regiment Corps Headquarters Kandahar.

The Pakistani security authorities arrested the officer when he was trying to enter Pakistani area, sources said and added that some documents were also recovered from him.

They said that during the initial investigation, the Afghan officer claimed that he belongs to Pakistani border town Chaman. However, senior officials were questioning the officer.

However, Afghanistan says many Taliban guerillas are crossing from Pakistan, and has accused Islamabad of not doing enough to stop their resurgence.

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