2 Pak Citizens Killed In "Unprovoked Firing" By Afghanistan At Border

Two Pakistani citizens, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed on Wednesday when an Afghan security personnel resorted to "unprovoked firing" at a busy border crossing, the army said. The firing incident was reported at the Chaman border point, also known as Friendship Gate, one of two border crossings along with Torkham in the northwest, used by people from Afghanistan to enter and leave Pakistan.

The army said that at 1600 hours, "an Afghan sentry employed at Friendship Gate" along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Balochistan "opened unprovoked and indiscriminate firing at pedestrians" moving from Pakistan to Afghanistan.

The incident occurred at the outbound gate located on the zero line.

"Own troops exercised extreme restraint and avoided any exchange of fire in the presence of innocent passengers to avoid collateral damage," it said in a statement.

The bodies were shifted to the Chaman District Headquarters Hospital and an injured child was being treated after he was evacuated by the security forces.

"Afghan authorities have been approached to inquire the reason for such irresponsible and reckless act, apprehend and hand over the culprit to Pakistani authorities," the statement said.

The army also said that the interim Afghan government was expected to "exercise control over its troops and impart discipline to act responsibly in order to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future".

Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said an elderly man and a child were killed in the attack. "Such incidents are not acceptable in any way," he said.

The incident occurred just a day after Pakistan set November 1 as a deadline for all illegal residents to leave the country or they would be evicted by force. The Afghan government termed it "unacceptable" and asked Pakistan to review it.

Ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated in recent months as according to Islamabad, the interim Taliban government had failed to stop cross-border attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan terrorist group. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)