Afghan Rockets Shelling Injures Two Pakistani Security Personnel

Islamabad, Oct 23, IRNA – Two Pakistani security personnel were injured in rockets shelling from Afghan side of the border on Tuesday, officials said. They said three rockets were fired from Afghanistan side on a security forces check post in Bajaur tribal region. The injured were moved to a military medical facility in the area. Pakistan and Afghanistan, who have over 2000 kilometers common border, routinely accuse each other of cross-border shelling. Umer Said Khan, the political administration officer of the Mamond Tehsil in Bajaur agency, confirmed the attack saying militants had fired rockets from the Afghan side. Pakistani forces fired in retaliation on the suspects’ sites, officials said. It was not clear as to who have fired the rockets. Foreign and Afghan forces are engaged against the Afghan Taliban on the Afghan side of the border. Officials say that some Pakistani militants who have fled to Afghanistan after the military operations now operate from Afghanistan and launch attacks on Pakistani border posts. Local officials in Bajaur say that the Tuesday’s rocketing was the second firing in two days in Bajaur from the Afghanistan’s Kunar province. On Monday, two minors were injured from Afghan firing in an attack which attracted serious concern from the local tribal elders, who demanded an immediate halt to such activities. The Pakistani government has raised the issue with the Afghan government several times, who have repeatedly denied these allegations. The attacks have caused several civilian casualties in the areas. Earlier on September 26, six mortar shells fired from Afghanistan killed two people in the Ghulam Khan Tehsil of North Waziristan Agency. On September 18, Afghan security forces killed at least five Pakistani citizens close to the Pak-Afghan border in Balochistan. Islamabad had lodged a strong protest with Kabul on the same day./end