Cross-Border Attack: Rocket fired from Afghanistan

Two FC personnel sustain minor shrapnel injuries in a cross-border firing incident on Pak-Afghan border.

KHAR: A rocket was fired from Afghanistan on Tuesday in what was the second consecutive cross-border attack in two days, confirmed Umer Khan, a political administration official from Mamond in Bajaur Agency. The rocket was fired from the western side of the Pak-Afghan border towards Sarkai village in Mamond. Though no loss of life was reported in the incident as the rocket did not land in a residential area, two FC personnel sustained minor shrapnel injuries as a result of the explosion. Consequently, security forces retaliated by firing shots towards the direction the rocket was believed to be fired from. A day earlier, two minors were injured in a cross-border firing incident. Such attacks are not uncommon in Bajaur and local tribesmen have repeatedly expressed concern, demanding the administration to put an end to the violation immediately. Bajaur Agency borders the Afghan province of Kunar. Though the government has raised the issue with its Afghan counterpart in the past, little headway has been made to stop the attacks.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2013.