Accusations of firing by both sides across the Afghan-Pakistani border, and by both Indian and Pakistani forces across an old ceasefire line dividing their areas in the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir are common. The latest incidents came at an especially tense time between Pakistan and India, and as talks between the US and the Afghan Taliban have broken down.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office summoned an Afghan diplomat Saturday to account for what it said was firing into Pakistan by militants in Afghanistan, a spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The militants shot and killed a Pakistani soldier on patrol in one incident late on Friday. In a second incident, Pakistani forces fencing a section of the border were attacked and three were killed, the ministry said Saturday.
Pakistan underscored in its meeting with the Afghan diplomat that Afghanistan was responsible for securing its side of the border.
Both of the uneasy neighbors are battling militant factions along their largely porous border.
Pakistan also summoned an Indian diplomat Saturday after it said firing by Indian forces across the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region killed a 40-year-old woman from the village of Balakot.
Tensions between the two countries have flared since August 5 when New Delhi flooded India-controlled Kashmir with troops to quell unrest after it revoked the region’s special status.
