Islamabad, 23 March (AKI) - Pakistan has protested against the killings of at least 15 people by Afghan army soldiers, saying that the men who the Afghan army said were Taliban fighters, were actually Pakistanis on holiday. The spokesperson for the Pakistan foreign ministry, Tasnim Aslam has said that Pakistan has lodged a "strong protest" with Afghanistan and the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan had been summoned. The ministry has also "demanded an independent investigation into the incident and punishment for those responsible'' for the killings.
On Wednesday, an Afghan army commander said a two-hour-long gun battle occured near the southern border town of Spin Boldak in the Kandahar province late on Tuesday and among the dead was a mid-level Taliban commander Mullah Shien, who allegedly led several raids across the border from secret bases in Pakistan.
Pakistan's information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed called the report "just another allegation" and other reports said that the dead were Pakistanis traveling to a religious festival in northern Afghanistan. | Innocent, heavily armed pilgrams |
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Ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been tense over who is responsible for Islamic militants operating in the volatile border region between the two countries. Kabul has long called on Islamabad to do more to to deal with militants in Pakistan while Pakistan says that it has been doing all it can with some 80,000 troops deployed in the border area. |
