Four children among seven Pakistanis killed by mortar shells from Afghanistan

PESHAWAR: A mortar attack reportedly fired into Pakistan from Afghanistan on Sunday landed inside the home of a tribesman in Salarzai, a rugged border town in Bajaur tribal district, leaving seven persons of a family including four children dead, the region’s top administrator said on Sunday.

Ties between the two neighbors have been tense for years, with sporadic cross-border clashes along the 2,400 km long and porous Pak-Afghan border and allegations of infiltrations by both sides contributing to an entrenched trust deficit.

“A mortar shell fired from the other side of the border hit the roof of a local elder, causing it to collapse, which left all seven persons inside dead on the spot,” Deputy Commissioner of Bajaur, Muhammad Usman Mehsud, told Arab News.

Soon after the incident, he said the district administration had dispatched a relief team and an ambulance to pull the dead from the rubble.

“The area is remote, but we have directed health and administration officials to reach the site to assess the situation,” he added.

Earlier on Sunday, a report by a United Nations committee said Pakistan was a target of militancy from Afghanistan, and specifically mentioned militant groups that regularly attacked Pakistani border posts from their bases in Afghanistan.

Last Wednesday, Pakistan briefly closed its busy Torkham border crossing after two mortar shells were fired into its territory from Afghanistan-- but caused no casualties.

Zaffarullah Khan, a local from Bajaur tribal district, said the rocket shell on Sunday had hit the house of Fazl Ghani in the Batwar village of Salarzai.

“Those who died in the incident included two women, a man and four children,” Khan said.

After the incident, he said other tribesmen and eyewitnesses had rushed to the blast site to look for any survivors trapped under the wreckage of the room.

Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been strained for years, amid long-standing allegations by Kabul and Washington that Pakistan routinely shelters Taliban militants, a charge Islamabad denies.

Last week, Islamabad strongly condemned Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s Twitter posts that had criticized Pakistan for the arrest of a leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement. Ghani had urged the government to “support and encourage peaceful civilian movements for justice.”