50 Afghan soldiers killed, 100 injured in retaliatory firing to Chaman cross-border attack: IG FC
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Inspector General (IG) Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan Maj Gen Nadeem Anjum on Sunday claimed that 50 Afghan security personnel were killed and another 100 injured as Pakistani forces retaliated to unprovoked firing by Afghan border forces on security personnel in Balochistan's Chaman area last week.
He added, however, that "we are not happy over their losses since they are our Muslim brothers".
The IG FC was briefing the media over a recent cross-border attack in Chaman, in which 12 people were killed and 40 injured when Afghan border forces opened fire on security personnel guarding a census team, although Afghanistan had been informed of the exercise in advance.
The attack caused residents in Killi Luqman, Killi Jahangir and Badshah Adda Kahol evacuating their homes as Chaman was shut down and security ramped up in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.
The FC Balochistan chief said four or five check posts were also destroyed when Pakistani border guards retaliated to the cross-border attack.
Gen Anjum said that on May 5, Afghanistan pleaded for ceasefire, which Pakistan accepted.
The FC Balochistan chief said that Afghan authorities targeted civilians even though they had been informed about the on-going census exercise.
Earlier, Commander Southern Command Lt Gen Aamir Riaz termed the cross-border attack as 'shameful'.
"This was a shameful act to target civilians at the border villages of Pakistan," Riaz told journalists at Chaman during a visit to the area.
He said that Afghanistan would not benefit from such attacks in any way and that the Afghan government should be ashamed of such acts.
Officials agree to use geological survey
Pakistani and Afghan military commanders on Sunday agreed to carry out a geological survey of the border area, reported DawnNews.
This was decided in the third flag meeting between the commanders of the two sides. Geological experts also attended the meeting, held at the Friendship Gate. It was the third consecutive meeting in three days. Earlier, two such meetings had ended without any decision.
The meeting also deliberated a suggestion for usage of google maps.
