11 killed in Afghan, Pakistani border skirmish

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) – At least seven Pakistan paramilitary troops and four Afghan militia were killed in the latest border skirmish close to the disputed Durand Line between the two neighbors, officials said on on Sunday.

Abdul Baseer, spokesman for the Afghan National Police (ANP) in the southeastern Khost province, told Anadolu Agency that an armed assault began this morning with alleged indiscriminate shelling on the Zazai Maidan district by Pakistani forces from across the Durand Line.

According to local Salam Afghanistan radio, Pakistani troops wearing civilian dress allegedly came into Khost and started shooting at Afghan forces.

Pakistan generally does not comment on such border skirmishes.

In April, Afghan authorities handed over to Pakistan a captured Pakistani border guard and the dead bodies of five Pakistani troops slain during clashes in the same area.

Back then, both sides gave conflicting death tolls and accused each other of opening fire on their troops along the disputed 2,430-kilometer (1,510-mile) border region known as the Durand Line, named after British colonial officer Sir Mortimer Durand, who drew it in 1896 between then-British India and Afghanistan.