Pakistani army says Afghan forces have shelled border town, killing six

Deadly shelling from Afghan forces has killed six people in a border town in Pakistan as relations continue to sour between the neighbouring countries.

The violence hitting Chaman in southwestern Pakistan follows a series of deadly incidents and attacks that have raised tensions with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers. Chaman is the main border crossing for
trade between the two countries.

The Pakistani army said 17 people were wounded. They blamed the casualties on the “unprovoked and indiscriminate fire” of heavy weapons by Afghan forces on civilians.

In Afghanistan, a spokesman for Kandahar’s governor, Ataullah Zaid, appeared to link the clashes between Pakistani and Taliban forces with the construction of new checkpoints on the Afghan side of the border.

He said one Taliban fighter was killed and 10 were wounded. Three civilians were also injured, he added.

A doctor with a government-run hospital in Chaman, Akhtar Mohammad, told the Associated Press that live rounds injured 27 people who were brought into hospital for treatment. Of these, six died and seven were in a critical condition.

A resident on Pakistan’s side of the border, Wali Mohammad, took his wounded cousin to the hospital in Chaman. He said there were a number of explosions followed by rapid gunfire.

“We were in the street like any other day off when suddenly a big explosion was heard and debris hit many people, including one of my cousins,” he said.

After a deadly shooting in November, the border at Chaman was shut for eight days, causing heavy commercial losses and leaving thousands of people stranded on both sides.