Ashrafuddin Pirzada
LANDIKOTAL: Torkham border closed after an exchange of heavy firing over the hills top bunker construction by Afghan security forces on Monday, sources said.
The sources said that Afghan border forces were constructing a bunker near the border. They said several times Pakistani border forces had complained over the disputed bunker.
” On Monday evening when Pakistani border authorities asked the Afghan officials to stop the construction work on the bunker near the international border, the Afghan side fired heavy shells over the post near the Torkham border,” said an official. He said a mortar shell also landed in the Mukhtarkhel village locality in the hills however no damage was found.
Meanwhile, the Torkham border was closed for all kinds of movement from and to Afghanistan. The Afghan side of the Torkham was also vacated by Afghan border authorities to avoid human losses. Residents in Bacha Mina village adjacent to the Torkham border also started vacating their homes and moving towards Landikotal, eyewitnesses said.
Hundreds of loaded and empty trucks on both sides of the Torkham were stranded due to the fresh conflict causing billions of rupees in losses to traders and transporters.
When contacted by landikotal station house officer Amjad Khan Afridi said firing between the two countries stopped and so far no casualty was reported.
