The Albany Gazette - Five Afghan children die in Pakistan rocket attacks: officials

Since the Taliban seized power last year in Afghanistan, border tensions between the neighbours have risen, with Pakistan claiming militant groups were carrying out attacks from Afghan soil.

The Taliban deny harbouring Pakistani militants, but are also infuriated by a fence Islamabad is erecting along their 2,700-kilometre (1,600-mile) border known as the Durand line, which was drawn up in colonial times.

An Afghan government official and a resident in the eastern Kunar province said Pakistani forces fired rockets early on Saturday that left six people dead.

"Five children and a woman were killed and a man wounded in Pakistani rocket attacks in Shelton district of Kunar," provincial director of information Najibullah Hassan Abdaal told AFP.

Ehsanullah, a resident of Shelton district who goes by one name as many Afghans do, said the assault was carried out by Pakistani military aircraft.

A similar pre-dawn assault was carried out in Afghanistan's Khost province near the border, another Afghan government official said.

"Pakistani helicopters bombarded four villages near the Durand line in Khost province," he said on condition of anonymity.

"Only civilian houses were targeted and there were casualties," he added, but did not offer more details.

An Afghan tribal elder from Khost, Gul Markhan, confirmed the incident in Khost.

TOLO News, Afghanistan's leading private TV channel, showed footage of houses destroyed in the assault.

"All the targeted people were innocent civilians who had nothing to do with the Taliban or the government," Rasool Jan, a resident of Khost, told the channel.

"We don't know who is our enemy and why we were targeted."

- 'Military violations' -

Pakistani military officials were not immediately available for comment, and Taliban government spokesmen in Kabul declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

Hundreds of civilians of Khost poured into the streets chanting anti-Pakistan slogans later on Saturday, photographs obtained by AFP showed.

The Afghan foreign ministry summoned the Pakistani ambassador in Kabul to protest the attacks.

"Such military violations including in Khost and Kunar should be prevented as ill-wishers and groups with vested interests will exploit these incidents," Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi told the Pakistani envoy, according to a ministry statement.

Border areas between the two countries have long been a stronghold for militant groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which operates across the porous frontier with Afghanistan.

The Afghan Taliban and the TTP are separate groups in both countries, but share a common ideology and draw from people who live on either side of the border.

Thousands of people usually cross the border daily, including traders, Afghans seeking medical treatment in Pakistan, and people visiting relatives.

Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, the TTP has become emboldened and launched regular attacks against Pakistani forces.

In February, six Pakistan soldiers were killed in firing by the TTP from Afghanistan.

Last month the TTP announced it would launch an offensive against Pakistani security forces from the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The TTP are pressuring the Pakistani authorities to allow militants to return to their hometowns with impunity after foreign fighters were told by the Afghan Taliban to leave Afghanistan.

(B.Hartmann--BBZ)