Afghanistan's interim govt apologised over firing incident: Pakistan defence minister

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Monday that Afghanistan's interim government has apologised over the firing incident in the border area that killed seven Pakistani civilians and injured 16 others.

Addressing the issue in a National Assembly session, Asif also said that "the border security committee met again and it was agreed that Afghanistan was at fault. We believe that there was no motive behind this and there is no evidence of any planning behind the attack." He explained that the "provocation" at Chaman border in Balochistan on Sunday "was from the Afghan side" and it began when "our people were repairing a portion of fence" which was damaged by the Afghans.

"They took the stand that the reparation work should have been referred to the border security committee…When the matter escalated, they opened fire. In the first round of fire, no casualties occurred," he said.

Later, the Taliban forces used heavy ammunition which killed five civilians on the spot while two more died in hospital.

Asif said that Pakistan in retaliation fired on an Afghan post, which resulted in casualties of eight to nine Afghan soldiers, adding that the Afghan government had admitted the mistake and promised that such incidents won’t happen in the future.

The minister also said that Afghanistan's internal situation was being reflected in its relations with Pakistan.

The firing incident was widely condemned across the political divide in Pakistan with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemning it.

The Pakistani Army has described the incident as "uncalled-for aggression" and said Pakistani troops had given a “befitting” but “measured response” and avoided targeting civilians on the other side.