DUSHANBE, June 15, 2016, Asia-Plus — Tensions remained high at the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan as a Pakistani army officer wounded in cross-border clashes died on June 14.
The death of Major Ali Jawad Ali Changezi was the second fatality from artillery exchanges at the Torkham crossing. The clashes also killed an Afghan border guard and left 18 wounded on both sides.
Reuters
reports that the main gates at Torkham, the most frequented official border crossing at the end of the Khyber Pass, stayed closed for a third day, leaving thousands stranded on either side.
Firing between Pakistani and Afghan forces first broke out on Sunday at the crossing, about 45 kilometers west of Peshawar, over the construction of a new border post on the Pakistani side.
Pakistan”s army chief attended funeral prayers for Major Jawad Ali Changezi, who was among nine Pakistani and six Afghan troops wounded in the fighting.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif”s office and the Pakistani military”s press wing also confirmed Changezi”s death.
One Afghan soldier was killed, Afghan officials had said on Monday, according to
Reuters
.
Meanwhile
Associated Press
(
AP
) reported today that an Afghan official says renewed clashes at a Pakistan-Afghan border crossing have killed an Afghan border guard and wounded five others.
Pakistan said Wednesday it has dispatched more troops and weapons to the volatile border amid an escalation in tension between the two neighbors.
The Afghan guard is the third fatality since Sunday night, when clashes erupted at the Torkham border crossing over the construction of a gate by Pakistan on allegedly disputed territory.
According to
AP
, Afghan border police official Jamal Khan says the guard was killed late Tuesday.
Pakistani security officials confirmed the latest exchange of fire but say the cease-fire is now holding.
