KABUL, Afghanistan: At least one border guard was killed and two others were injured when militants allegedly tried to enter Afghanistan illegally from Pakistan on Thursday, according to Afghan officials on Friday.
Zia Durrani, spokesman for the Afghan national police, said the incident took place on the outskirts of Spin Boldak district in southern Kandahar province. The district is near the Chaman district of Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province.
Durrani said border police opened fire on “militants who were crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan on Thursday.
“Pakistani militiamen and the militants opened fire on our border police, which was retaliated; we believe they [militants] have also sustained casualties, but we have no exact details available,” he told Anadolu Agency.
Samim Khpalwak, spokesman for the provincial governor, also confirmed the incident and said the militants were forced to retreat.
Omar Zakhilwal, Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, urged better understanding and harmony between the two neighboring countries.
Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2,430-kilometer (1,510-mile) long disputed border known as the Durand Line, which is named after the colonial era British diplomat, Sir Henry Mortimer Durand.
The latest border skirmish is said to be the first such incident this year after a spate of attacks in 2016.
At least two Afghan border policemen and a Pakistani major died when forces from both countries engaged in cross-border firefight for at least three days at the Torkham crossing point in mid-June last year.
