At least five civilians, including two children, were killed on Sunday in cross-border shelling by the Afghan National Army (ANA) in South Waziristan Agency.
According to military sources, ANA troops fired mortar rounds from the Khuja Khadar (KK) Top checkpost in Afghanistan, which hit a civilian vehicle some two kilometres north of the Naray area of South Waziristan.
As a result, five people were killed, sources added. The victims were local villagers who were returning home after collecting firewood near the Pak-Afghan border.
A political administration official confirmed the cross-border shelling by ANA, saying four mortar shells were fired from Afghanistan. According to him, the victims included two children.
He identified the dead as Saidullah Shamsi Khel, Ahsanaullah Shamsi Khel, Mahrof Dottani, Syed Wali and Saidullah.
Pakistan condemned the cross-border shelling and lodged a strong protest with the Afghan government over the killing of
innocent civilians.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 12th, 2012.
COMMENTS (11)
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@Ghorzang: Colonized mindsets like yourself will never understand Afghanistan and Afghans because your thought process is shaped by your colonial masters. You are a brown sahib, condescending and sarcastic but this betrays your lack of identity.
Excuse the pun, but the only country that is colonised at the moment is Afghanistan vis-a-vis America being the master. Go hide now, American helicopters will be flying over your house in Kabul any time soon.
@Caramelized onion
"Your fed up ANA won’t last 2 weeks after a NATO pull-out. First build a nation worthy of protecting, then start to point fingers"
I think our fed up ANA will fare better than the Pakistani Army that gets beheaded like scarecrows. Now to the second part of your comment, an Afghan protects his nation because he is sick and tired of interlopers not because he is protecting the Taj Mahal or something material.
Colonized mindsets like yourself will never understand Afghanistan and Afghans because your thought process is shaped by your colonial masters. You are a brown sahib, condescending and sarcastic but this betrays your lack of identity.
@afghanistan
Good don't complaint when we retaliate. You guys are really starting to make lot of pakistani really lose any sympathy with you guys. Pak should really start with evicting all Afghanis, then mine the whole border and stop any transaction what soever with afghanistan. Let India help them as they have so much love for each others.
Why only this issue is being raised and why the silence,verbal protest and condemnation like the spectators on the innocent and sinless people's killings of by the US' drones' strikes by the Pakistani leadership and military resources????
The Afghanis will get a kind reply
Afghans should start bracing for a month of shelling now
@sajjad ali khan: Afghans seem to be fed up of many things nowadays. No wonder so many Afghans are "starting to fight" as you say - and henceforth the sublime state of affairs of the country at present.
@sajjad ali khan: Afghans have always been good at putting an axe to their own feet, as demonstrated by your statement. Your fed up ANA won't last 2 weeks after a NATO pull-out. First build a nation worthy of protecting, then start to point fingers.
For Pak readers: This is what happens when you lose strategic depth. Now India has strategic depth in Afghanistan. Enjoy.
No problem people just bear this reconciliation process whether you are killed by drone or cross border shelling or by professionals in Karachi.
we strongly condemn killing of innocent people but I think every action has reaction. Pakistan has been shelling missiles to Afghanistan for one year and killed many innocent people and forced people to leave their villages and became IDP.
In pashto we have a saying which says che tang shi no pa jang shi. this means when one becomes fed up he starts to fight. i think ANA just got fed up by the shelling of pakistani forces which is going on for a year now. when will pakistan start showing some respect to their muslim neighbours?