QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) – Backed by artillery, Afghan security forces fired across the border on Pakistani census workers and troops escorting them, killing nine civilians and wounding 42, including women and children, Pakistani officials said Friday.
The Pakistani government and military officials said the artillery rounds were unprovoked but Afghan provincial officials claimed the Pakistanis fired first, wounding two Afghan policemen.
Friday’s cross-border incident in the border town of Chaman in Pakistan’s southwest Baluchistan province was the latest escalation between the two neighbors who share a volatile and porous boundary.
Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor said the army shut the border crossing in response to the early morning attack, blocking all movement of people and supplies to its landlocked neighbor.
Residents in the area said Pakistani and Afghan security personnel exchanged fire using light and heavy weapons.