At least 13 people have been killed and more than 80 others wounded in clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces near the Chaman border crossing, officials say.

The Afghan Border Police opened fire on soldiers accompanying a census team, a Pakistani military statement read on May 5.

"Since April 30, Afghan Border Police had been creating hurdles in conduct of census in divided villages of Killi Luqman and Killi Jahangir in Chaman area on Pakistani side of the border," the statement adds.

On the Pakistani side, Naseem Ullah, a doctor at a hospital in Killa Abdullah, told the German dpa news agency that nine civilians were killed in shelling. He said more than 45 people, including 12 children and six security personnel, were wounded.

Media reports in Afghanistan citing a police chief said four Afghan security personnel were killed and 14 police and at least 23 civilians wounded.

Both sides blamed each other for having started the fighting that began in the early morning hours near the crossing in southwestern Pakistan and southern Afghanistan.

Firing still continues on the Chaman border, an RFE/RL correspondent reports.

Zia Durani, a spokesman for the police chief in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province, blamed Pakistan for initiating the shooting, saying Pakistan wants to use the cover of data collection to help militants sneak into Afghanistan.

Another spokesman, Ghurzang Afridi, said the Pakistani census team had worked on the Afghan side of the border.

With reporting by dpa, AP, and Dawn</s>related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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Pakistani and Afghan troops exchanged fire for several hours on Friday along their disputed border, officials on both sides said, as tension between the neighbours flared into deadly violence.

QUETTA, Pakistan: Pakistani and Afghan troops exchanged fire for several hours on Friday along their disputed border, officials on both sides said, as tension between the neighbours flared into deadly violence.

Pakistan's military said a census team - guarded by troops from its Frontier Corps (FC) - that was collecting population data in a village near the border town of Chaman came under fire and at least one person was killed and 18 wounded.

Zia Durani, police spokesman for Afghanistan's Kandahar province, said Pakistani officials were using the census as a cover for "malicious activities and to provoke villagers against the government".

"They did not heed the warning and we have clear orders to engage them," Durani said, adding two Afghan border police were wounded.

Kandahar police chief General Abdul Raziq said 40 Pakistani soldiers and 37 others were killed, including 14 Afghan border police. Reuters was unable to confirm the figures.

Violence ceased later in the day and officials from both sides were due to meet at the frontier, the Pakistani military said. Pakistan's foreign ministry summoned the Afghan charge d’affaires to protest at what it called unprovoked firing.

The Chaman crossing into Afghanistan's Kandahar province is one of two border points. A doctor in a Chaman hospital told Reuters three people had been killed in the fighting.

Relations between the countries have been uneasy since Pakistan's independence in 1947. Afghanistan has traditionally enjoyed better ties with Pakistan's rival, India.

Afghanistan has for years accused Pakistan of sheltering Afghan Taliban militants, something Pakistan denies.

Pakistan's military said Afghan border police had been "creating hurdles" since April 30 for the census team in the Chaman area.

"This was done despite the fact that Afghan authorities had been informed well in advance and coordination was carried out through diplomatic and military channels for conduct of the census," the military said.

Tension has been increasing in recent months with each side accusing the other of not doing enough to stop militants engaging in cross-border raids.

Last year, Pakistan started building a barrier at the main border crossing in the town of Torkham, near the Khyber Pass, angering Afghanistan which has never formally recognised the colonial-era Durand Line border drawn up in 1893.</s>QUETTA, Pakistan Pakistani and Afghan troops exchanged fire for several hours on Friday along their disputed border, officials on both sides said, as tension between the neighbours flared into deadly violence.Pakistan's military said a census team - guarded by troops from its Frontier Corps (FC) - that was collecting population data in a village near the border town of Chaman came under fire and at least one person was killed and 18 wounded.Zia Durani, police spokesman for Afghanistan's Kandahar province, said Pakistani officials were using the census as a cover for "malicious activities and to provoke villagers against the government"."They did not heed the warning and we have clear orders to engage them," Durani said, adding two Afghan border police were wounded.Kandahar police chief General Abdul Raziq said 40 Pakistani soldiers and 37 others were killed, including 14 Afghan border police. Reuters was unable to confirm the figures.

Violence ceased later in the day and officials from both sides were due to meet at the frontier, the Pakistani military said. Pakistan's foreign ministry summoned the Afghan charge d’affaires to protest at what it called unprovoked firing.The Chaman crossing into Afghanistan's Kandahar province is one of two border points. A doctor in a Chaman hospital told Reuters three people had been killed in the fighting.

Relations between the countries have been uneasy since Pakistan's independence in 1947. Afghanistan has traditionally enjoyed better ties with Pakistan's rival, India.Afghanistan has for years accused Pakistan of sheltering Afghan Taliban militants, something Pakistan denies.Pakistan's military said Afghan border police had been "creating hurdles" since April 30 for the census team in the Chaman area.

"This was done despite the fact that Afghan authorities had been informed well in advance and coordination was carried out through diplomatic and military channels for conduct of the census," the military said.Tension has been increasing in recent months with each side accusing the other of not doing enough to stop militants engaging in cross-border raids.Last year, Pakistan started building a barrier at the main border crossing in the town of Torkham, near the Khyber Pass, angering Afghanistan which has never formally recognised the colonial-era Durand Line border drawn up in 1893. (Additional reporting by Syed Raza Hassan in Karachi and Hamid Shalizi in Kabul; Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Robert Birsel and Robin Pomeroy)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.</s>Backed by artillery, Afghan security forces fired across the border on Pakistani census workers and troops escorting them on Friday, killing nine and drawing a response from the military, Pakistan said. On the Afghan side, officials reported six killed in the incident, a significant escalation of hostilities between the two neighbors.

Pakistani government and military officials said the artillery rounds that hit in the border town of Chaman in southwestern Baluchistan province were unprovoked but Afghan provincial officials claimed that the Pakistanis fired first.

The incident was the latest escalation between the two neighbors who share a volatile and porous boundary.

Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor said the army shut the border crossing in Chaman in response to the early morning attack, blocking all movement of people and supplies to its landlocked neighbor.

Residents in the area said Pakistani and Afghan security personnel exchanged fire using light and heavy weapons.

"So far, we have received nine bodies. These civilians were killed as a result of the Afghan shelling," said Akhtar Mohammad, a doctor at the state-run hospital in Chaman.

At least 42 people were reported wounded on the Pakistani side, including women and children, and Mohammad said some of the wounded were in critical condition.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued a statement describing the Afghan firing as "unfortunate" and urged Kabul to put an end to cross-border attacks that threaten efforts to bring peace to Afghanistan.

Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Nafeez Zakaria said the census workers were on their side of the border when Afghan forces opened fire.

According to local residents, dozens of shells slammed into nearby villages, as well as close to the regional headquarters of Pakistan's paramilitary forces. Several of the wounded said their homes were destroyed in the exchange.

Gen. Abdul Raziq, the police chief in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, blamed Pakistan for initiating the gunbattle. He accused Islamabad of using the census as a mask to conceal the crossing of militants from Pakistan into Afghanistan. Raziq said six people — four Afghan policemen and two civilians — were killed while another 37 were wounded by Pakistani forces' fire. Among the Afghan wounded were 23 civilians.

"Pakistani forces were trying to infiltrate Afghan territory but Afghan forces stopped them; that's when the fight started," said Raziq.

In Islamabad, the foreign ministry said it had summoned Afghanistan's charg? d'affaires to complain about the firing.

Pakistan and Afghanistan routinely accuse each other of providing sanctuaries to their enemy insurgents — something both sides deny. Despite several high-level visits by Pakistani intelligence and security officials to Afghanistan in recent weeks, relations between the two countries continue to deteriorate.

Gen. Ghafoor also accused Afghan forces of creating obstacles for census workers in villages divided by the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. He did not elaborate on what those obstacles entailed.

Later Friday, the Pakistani military said a hotline had been established between the two sides and that the cross-border shooting had stopped.

Pakistani Maj. Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza asked the Afghan military to ensure its forces stay on their side and take every step to "defuse the situation" while the Pakistani military would "work within our own border."

Pakistan currently hosts 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees and another 1 million unregistered. They routinely get caught in the middle when tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan escalate.

Pakistan started conducting a nationwide census in mid-March, with censor-takers going door-to-door to collect information.

The census — the country's first since 1998 — has reignited a centuries-old border dispute between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The boundary, known as the Durand Line — named for Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, the former British diplomat who first established the border in 1896 — runs through vast ethnic Pashtun areas on both sides, in some places straight through villages.

Any attempt to make the border a permanent one has been fiercely opposed by Afghanistan. The two countries routinely squabble over the disputed border line, incidents which at times escalate into armed conflict.

In March this year former Afghan President Hamid Karzai again said that Afghanistan would never accept the Durand Line as an international border, stoking fears on the Pakistani side.

Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Mirwais Khan in Quetta, Pakistan; Kathy Gannon in Multan, Pakistan; Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Amir Shah in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.</s>Border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan killed several civilians and wounded dozens of people Friday in a disputed area, officials said.

A Pakistan army spokesman said the fighting erupted after Afghan forces fired at a government census team near the southwestern border town of Chaman.

Doctors at a local hospital in Chaman confirmed to VOA that at least six civilians were killed and more than 30 wounded.

Pakistani military officials say clashes have intensified and widened since the initial conflict, and are ongoing.

Major-General Asif Ghafoor said earlier several Pakistani soldiers escorting civilian enumerators were among the wounded.

He added that Pakistani troops returned fire and closed the busy Chaman border crossing with Afghanistan.

Ghafoor insisted that Afghan border forces have been “creating hurdles” in attempts to conduct a census in two divided villages, Killi Luqman and Killi Jahangir, along with border.

“This was done despite the fact that Afghan authorities had been informed well in advance, and coordination was carried out through diplomatic and military channels to conduct the census,” Ghafoor said.

Afghan security officials told VOA a civilian was killed on their side while a border police personnel was wounded.

An Afghan regional police chief, General Abdul Raziq, said Pakistani authorities were warned beforehand against conducting any activity in the divided villages, claiming they are part of Afghanistan.

“We had alerted our border police and also warned Pakistan that if they undertook any activity (in this area) it would cost them a big price,” Raziq insisted.

Despite the warning, Pakistani troops and military vehicles tried to enter the divided villages early Friday morning to “occupy our land,” but they were prevented from doing so, he added.

Raziq went on to assert that the two villages, with a total population of around 15,000 people, are at the “zero point of the Durand Line and a large number of them are enrolled in the Afghan border force.”

Thousands of travelers use the Chaman border crossing to move in both directions, and it also serves as a major trade and transit route for landlocked Afghanistan.

Afghanistan disputes portions of its nearly 2,600-kilometer border with Pakistan, which is known as the Durand Line. The frontier was established in 1896 when Britain was ruling the Indian subcontinent.

Islamabad dismisses Kabul’s objections over the demarcation and maintains Pakistan inherited the international frontier when it gained independence from Britain in 1947.

Bilateral relations have deteriorated in recent years over mutual allegations and counter allegations that Pakistani and Afghan spy agencies support militants conducting terrorist attacks in both countries.</s>ISLAMABAD — Border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 80 others Friday in a disputed area, officials said.

A Pakistan army spokesman said the fighting erupted after Afghan forces fired at a government census team near the southwestern border town of Chaman.

Army spokesman Major-General Asif Ghafoor said several Pakistani soldiers escorting civilian enumerators were among the wounded. He added that Pakistani troops returned fire and closed the busy Chaman border crossing with Afghanistan.

Pakistani hospital and security officials in Chaman say the death toll on their side is at least nine civilians, including women and children, while more than 40 have been wounded.

The Pakistan military also has confirmed that both sides have agreed to a cease-fire, and a meeting between border officials from the two sides is expected to take place.

General Ghafoor insisted that Afghan border forces have been “creating hurdles” in attempts to conduct a census in two divided villages, Killi Luqman and Killi Jahangir, along the border.

“This was done despite the fact that Afghan authorities had been informed well in advance, and coordination was carried out through diplomatic and military channels to conduct the census,” explained General Ghafoor.

An Afghan regional police chief, General Abdul Raziq, confirmed to VOA the fighting left four of his border guards dead and wounded 37 people, including 14 security forces. He added that the clashes have stopped, and border officials from the two sides are scheduled to meet late Friday afternoon.

The police chief said that Pakistani authorities were warned beforehand against conducting any activity in the divided villages, saying they are part of Afghanistan.

“We had alerted our border police and also warned Pakistan that if they undertook any activity [in this area] it would cost them a big price,” Raziq insisted.

Despite the warning, Pakistani troops and military vehicles tried to enter the divided villages early Friday morning to “occupy our land,” but they were prevented from doing so, he added.

General Raziq went on to assert that the two villages, with a total population of around 15,000 people, are located at the “zero point of the Durand Line and a large number of them are enrolled in the Afghan border force.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned what he said was the grave incident of firing by Afghan forces, and he termed it as most unfortunate.

The foreign ministry summoned the Afghan Charge d’ Affairs in Islamabad and strongly protested over the “unprovoked” firing and demanded Kabul take immediate action against those responsible for starting it.

“The unprovoked firing from the Afghan side not only led to the loss of precious lives and injured many, but has also disrupted the census in areas on the Pakistan side of the border and caused damage to properties,” a ministry statement said.

Thousands of travelers use the Chaman border crossing to move in both directions, and it also serves as a major trade and transit route for landlocked Afghanistan.

Afghanistan disputes portions of its nearly 2,600-kilometer border with Pakistan, which is known as the Durand Line. The frontier was established in 1896 when Britain was ruling the Indian subcontinent.

Islamabad dismisses Kabul’s objections over the demarcation and maintains Pakistan inherited the international frontier when it gained independence from Britain in 1947.

Bilateral relations have deteriorated in recent years over mutual allegations and counter allegations that Pakistani and Afghan spy agencies support militants conducting terrorist attacks in both countries.</s>Clashes erupted between Pakistani and Afghan troops on Friday along their disputed border and at least one person was killed, Pakistan's military said, in another blow to already tense relations between the neighbours.

QUETTA, Pakistan: Clashes erupted between Pakistani and Afghan troops on Friday along their disputed border and at least one person was killed, Pakistan's military said, in another blow to already tense relations between the neighbours.

Pakistan's military said the clashes broke out in a remote village near the Pakistani border town of Chaman as a Pakistani census team, guarded by troops from its Frontier Corps (FC), was collecting population figures.

"Afghan border police opens fire on FC detailed for security of population census team," said Pakistan military's media wing, adding that 18 people were wounded.

The Chaman crossing into Afghanistan's Kandahar province is one of two main crossing points on the border.

While the military said one person had been killed, a doctor in a hospital in Chaman told Reuters that three people had been killed in the fighting.

Zia Durani, police spokesman for Afghanistan's Kandahar province, said Pakistani officials were using the census as a cover for "malicious activities and to provoke villagers against the government".

"They did not heed the warning and we have clear orders to engage them," Durani said, adding two Afghan border police were wounded.

Relations between the countries have been uneasy since Pakistan's independence in 1947. Afghanistan has traditionally enjoyed better ties with Pakistan's arch rival, India.

Afghanistan has for years accused Pakistan of sheltering Afghan Taliban militants on its soil. Pakistan officially denies that even though various Taliban leaders have over the years been killed, died and detained in Pakistan.

Tension has been increasing in recent months amid new exchanges of accusations of not doing enough to tackle militants engaging in cross-border raids.

Pakistan's military said Afghan border police had been "creating hurdles" since April 30 for the census team in the Chaman area.

"This was done despite the fact that Afghan authorities had been informed well in advance and coordination was carried out through diplomatic and military channels for conduct of the census," the military said.

Last year, Pakistan started building a barrier at the main border crossing in the town of Torkham, near the Khyber Pass, angering Afghanistan which rejects the colonial-era Durand Line border drawn up in 1893.

Afghanistan has never formally recognised the line as the border.</s>Pakistani and Afghan officials accused each other of killing civilians Friday after gunfire erupted near a major border crossing where Pakistani census officials were carrying out a count.

The gunfight prompted Pakistani authorities to shut the Chaman border crossing, one of only two major crossing points along the disputed frontier, and threatens to exacerbate already tense relations between Islamabad and Kabul.

"Afghan border police opened fire on FC (Frontier Corps) detailed for security of population census team," the Pakistani military said in a statement, adding that one civilian had been killed and 18 others, including four soldiers, injured.

It accused Afghan officials of "creating hurdles" for census work in the area.

But Samim Khpalwak, spokesman for the governor of Afghanistan's Kandahar province, said the Pakistani officials had strayed on to the Afghan side of the border and were attempting to count people living there.

"So far in the fighting, we have one Afghan civilian killed and three border police forces wounded," he told AFP, adding that the scuffle was still going on, with "dozens" of Afghan security forces rushing to the scene.

The two nations are divided by the "Durand Line", a 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) frontier drawn by the British in 1896 and disputed by Kabul, which does not officially recognise it as an international border.

Ethnic Pashtuns living along the border have traditionally paid it little heed, with villages straddling the frontier that have mosques and houses with one door in Pakistan and another in Afghanistan.

Border controls were virtually absent, and it was daily crossed with impunity by traders and travellers -- until recent clampdowns by Pakistan.

The border is not the only area of dispute between the neighbours: Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan of sponsoring the Afghan Taliban, though Islamabad says it provides the militants with safe haven as a "lever" to bring them to peace talks.

Pakistan has also accused Afghanistan of harbouring militants who carry out attacks in its territory.

Pakistan embarked on the enormous task of conducting its first census in almost two decades in March.

The fast-growing country is the sixth most populous in the world, with an estimated 200 million people, but has not held a census since 1998, despite a constitutional requirement for one every decade.</s>For hours, villages in Chaman, along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, raged with the sound of gunbattles between the Pakistani military forces guarding their side of the border, and the Afghan forces doing the same thing. At least 15 were killed, mostly civilians, and over 40 others wounded in the exchange of fire.

Border skirmishes are not uncommon, as Afghanistan doesn’t recognize the de facto border of the last 120 years, and actually claims large portions of Pakistan actually are part of Afghanistan. This is one of the first major fights in awhile, however.

Both sides were also quick to blame the other for starting it, with Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif quick to issue a statement complaining that Afghan forces shelled villages in Pakistani Baluchistan totally unprovoked to start the conflict.

The Afghan government hasn’t managed to get around to responding directly, though provincial officials claimed that Pakistani forces attacked the border troops first, and that the artillery fire was purely in retaliation for that, even though by all indications it only hit civilian targets.
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• US Carrier Parked Off Iran Complains Iranian Surveillance a 'Nuisance' - May 5th, 2017</s>ISLAMABAD, May 5 (APP): Afghan Border Police opened fire on

 Frontier Corps detailed for the security of Population Census team in

 Chaman on Friday.

 “One civilian embraced shahadat, while 18 individuals

 including four FC Balochistan soldiers sustained injuries due to the

 firing” Inter Services Public Relations here said.

 Since April 30, Afghan Border Police had been creating hurdles

 in conduct of census in divided villages of Killi Luqman and Killi

 Jahangir in Chaman area, on Pakistani side of the border.

 This was done despite the fact that Afghan authorities had

 been informed well in advance and coordination was carried out

 through diplomatic and military channels for conduct of census.

 Exchange of fire was continued till the mid-day.

 The border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan at Chaman

 has been closed down.
Afghan border police and the Pakistani military clash at a border crossing near Chaman, killing at least 13 people and wounding over 80 others. Both sides blame each other for the flareup in fighting.