Afghanistan's top envoy to Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal on Monday rejected claims that Pakistani security forces killed 50 Afghan soldiers in retaliation to the Chaman cross-border attack, saying that only two Afghan soldiers were slain and seven others injured.
"Woke up to celebratory front page headlines today on all Pakistani papers saying Pakistan killed 50 Afghani soldiers and injured 100 in Chaman clash," Zakhilwal tweeted.
"[The] truth is only 2 Afghan soldiers were shaheed and about 7 injured," he added.
On Sunday, Inspector General (IG) Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan Maj Gen Nadeem Anjum 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.
The FC Balochistan chief said four or five check posts were also destroyed when Pakistani border guards retaliated to the cross-border attack, adding that Afghanistan pleaded for ceasefire on May 5, which Pakistan accepted.
On Friday, Pakistan closed the border after attacks by Afghan forces on census staff and security personnel escorting them left 12 people dead and 40 others injured.
The Afghan envoy slammed the reports, saying, "The Chaman clash left casualties, deaths and injured on Pakistan side too but we, instead of celebrating, called it unfortunate and regrettable."
Zakhilwal asserted that the loss of even two lives "are too many if our claim for seeking good neighbourly relations is genuine and if we mean well for each other."
It should be noted that in Sunday's briefing, the IG FC had stated: "We are not happy over their losses since they are our Muslim brothers."
