By DPA,
Islamabad : Pakistan has lodged a strong protest with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) over a mortar attack from Afghanistan on one of its border military posts, an army spokesman said Saturday.
“Six mortar rounds fired from Afghanistan fell close to our Sera post in Angoor Adda sector of South Waziristan Thursday night,” military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said. “Our six security personnel received injuries.”
Pakistani troops retaliated with fire immediately and a number of causalties were reported on the other side of the border, he said, adding that the country lodged a protest with the ISAF over the incident Friday.
However, the ISAF in a statement Saturday accused Taliban militants of carrying out the attack on both Afghan and Pakistan forces simultaneously.
“ISAF forces tracked the fire to two points within Afghanistan and returned fire with artillery and one GBU-13 bomb dropped from an F-15 aircraft,” an ISAF press release said.
As a result of the firefight, four Afghan border police officers and eight Pakistani military members were wounded, ISAF officials said.
Pakistan’s tribal areas provide sanctuaries for Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters who regularly cross the border to launch attacks on NATO-led international forces in Afghanistan, a fact that recently heightened tension on the border.
Some 11 Pakistan troops, including one officer, were killed June 10 when US planes bombarded a Pakistani border post in the neighbouring Mohmand Agency tribal district.