Pakistan accuses Taliban of attacking border town — RT World News
Bombardment reportedly killed six, amid heightened tension between Islamabad and Afghanistan
Taliban forces killed six people in an attack on the town of Chaman on Sunday, the Associated Press reported, citing the Pakistani military. Chaman, which sits on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, is the latest flashpoint in an escalation between the two states.
The Pakistani army said that “without provocation and without discernment” gunfire from Afghan militants left six dead and 17 wounded, while a doctor at a government hospital in the border town told the AP that 27 wounded had been brought to the facility for treatment.
The Pakistani military said it responded to the shelling, but did not provide further information. In Afghanistan, a spokesman for Kandahar Governor Ataullah Zaid said the Pakistani response killed one Taliban fighter and injured 10 others, along with three civilians.
Chaman sits on a main road between the Pakistani city of Quetta and Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second largest city. A vital trade link between the two countries, the Chaman border post was closed for more than a week last month following the shooting death of a Pakistani guard.
Although an ally of the United States, Pakistan provided military and financial aid to the Taliban before and during the American invasion of Afghanistan. That relationship has since soured and Pakistani nationals working to fence the country’s border with Afghanistan have come under attack from Taliban fighters in recent months, with Pakistan launching airstrikes in response.
Pakistani officials have accused the Taliban of attacking Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul last month, with Islamabad also accusing the militant group of harboring terrorists who carry out deadly attacks on Pakistani soil. The Taliban in turn accused Pakistan of allowing the United States to use its airspace to launch drone attacks on Afghan territory.
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