Cross-border shelling kills two in Bajaur agency

Mortar shells fired from Afghanistan, kill women, injure children.

BAJAUR: Five mortar shells, fired from Afghanistan across the border into to Pakistan killed two people including a woman, while injuring five people, in Bajaur agency on Thursday.

Official sources said that the mortars landed in Bandagai area of tehsil Mamoond, of Bajaur Agency. Of the five people injured, three were children. He confirmed that the mortars had been fired from the Afghan side of the Durand line.

Pakistani officials have accused the Afghan Army of often firing mortars across the border. Despite the issue being raised with President Hamid Karzai, the attacks have continued.

A cross-border mortar attack on Tuesday killed four and wounded two Pakistani soldiers in South Waziristan.

“Four soldiers were killed and two others wounded in the cross-border attack,” a security official in Peshawar told AFP, saying that the shelling continued for around two hours.