PARACHINAR: A Frontier Corps soldier was martyred and another injured when unidentified gunmen on Afghan territory fired at a border post in Kurram tribal district on Sunday.

Security officials in the area confirmed the incident which occurred in lower tehsil of Kurram, adjacent to Afghanistan’s Khost province.

The officials said that paramilitary forces retaliated, but casualties on the other side of the border could not be ascertained.

The firing incident took place at a time when relations between the two neighbours have strained after Islamabad closed its diplomatic mission in Jalalabad on Friday due to interference by the governor of Nangarhar.

The martyred soldier was identified as Lance Naik Rehmanullah, while the name of the injured was not disclosed. He was shifted to a military hospital in the area.

Security forces are fencing border with Afghanistan in upper and lower parts of Kurram district.

A cross-border clash took place between the security forces of Pakistan and Afgha­­­­n­­istan in lower Kurram in April in which two soldiers lost their lives and five others, including an officer, suffered injuries. Local tribes in Kurram provided backup support to the security forces to repulse the attack of the Afghan army.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2018