Skirmishes across the fence: Torkham border crossing closed for five hours

At least nine injured in mortar attacks in South Waziristan.


Our Correspondents December 19, 2013
An Afghan security official stands guard near Torkham after clashes erupted between Afghan security forces and Taliban. PHOTO: REUTERS

LANDI KOTAL/ DERA ISMAIL KHAN:


Hundreds of people were stranded on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border as the Torkham crossing was shut down for five hours due to skirmishes between Taliban and Afghan security forces on Wednesday.


Mairaj Khan, an official of the Khyber Agency political administration, said heavy clashes erupted between militants and Afghan forces at 6:15am in Shiraz Qilla area of Afghanistan, around two kilometres from Torkham, after which the border crossing was closed by both Afghan and Pakistani authorities.

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Khan said loud sounds of explosions and heavy gunfire created panic on both sides of the border, forcing people to abandon their vehicles and trucks, and rush towards safe places. The official further said the clashes ended after around an hour but authorities opened the gates at around 11am, after which the routine bustle of residents and transporters going to and fro began as usual.

Mortar attacks

At least nine people were injured in South Waziristan as mortars were fired from Afghanistan’s Paktika province on Wednesday. The assistant political agent of Wana said at 6:30am, 19 mortar shells landed in various parts of Birmal in Angoor Adda, a border village in Wana.

Eight members of the Ahmadzai-Wazir tribe were injured and shifted to the agency headquarters hospital in Wana and other private clinics.

According to hospital officials, two of the injured, were in a serious condition and thus shifted to district headquarters hospital.

Five members of a single family, Rashidullah, Rafiqullah, Hafizullah, Qajal Khan and Saeed Hassan were among the injured.

One of the mortars also landed at a wood market which caught fire as a result and injured at least one person.

After the incident, members of the Ahmadzai-Wazir tribe blocked Wana-Angoor Adda Road that links South Waziristan with the Paktika province of Afghanistan. Tribal elders also held a jirga which demanded Pakistan’s government to take concrete steps to prevent frequent cross-border shelling.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2013.

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