Torkham border closed for second day

Official says gun battle began after Afghan forces tried to establish another check post

PESHAWAR:

The Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan remained closed for the second day on Thursday after clashes between security forces of both the countries.

A gun battle erupted on Wednesday between Pakistan and Afghan border forces, with each side blaming the other for starting the firefight that shut their busiest trade crossing.

The closure caused a lot of difficulties for the people as two bodies of Afghan citizens were lying at the crossing point while dozens of patients were waiting for the gate to reopen.

Citizens, including children, women and patients, are trapped, while business activities have been suspended. Due to the closure, long queues of hundreds of freight vehicles have been stranded on both sides of the border.

"Afghan forces tried to establish a check post in an area where it is agreed... that both sides will not establish a check post," Pakistan local administration official Irshad Mohmand said on Wednesday.

"After an objection from the Pakistan side, the Afghan forces opened fire," he said, adding that Pakistan border forces responded with "retaliatory fire".

The Taliban government in turn blamed Pakistan.

"Pakistani forces attacked the Afghan side when Afghan forces wanted to reactivate their old outpost with an excavator," Quraishi Badloon, an official for the information and culture directorate in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, said.

"The attack has resulted in casualties, but the exact figures are not known yet."

Read more: Torkham border crossing closed, residents report gunfire

A local Pakistan police official, who was not authorised to speak to the media, said gunshots started at around 1pm at the Torkham border crossing, halfway between Islamabad and Kabul, with an evacuation ordered.

The shooting stopped by late Wednesday afternoon but the border remained shut, he said.

"The atmosphere is tense" and "forces on both sides are alert", he said.

One Pakistan border guard had been wounded in fire from light and heavy weapons, as well as mortars, said another local government official, who asked not to be identified.

The crossing at Torkham is a key trading waypoint, where Afghanistan exports truckloads of coal and receives food and other supplies from Pakistan.

A gun battle also erupted at the crossing in February after Taliban authorities ordered the border shut, with both sides blaming the other for starting the firefight.

"Efforts are being made to prevent the causes of this clash and the recurrence of such incidents," Taliban government interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said on Wednesday.

(With input from afp)