Afghanistan returns bodies of Pakistani soldiers killed in border clash

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Afghanistan returned the bodies of five Pakistani soldiers killed during a clash at the border on April 15.
Ministry spokesman Dr. Mohammed Faisal said on April 19 said the Frontier Corps (FC) troops were carrying out routine patrol and fencing activities along the border at Kurram Tribal Agency when they were attacked.
“The Afghan border security forces, assisted by Afghan tribesmen, fired on our troops, resulting in shahadat (killing) of five soldiers,” he added.
“The Afghan border forces and tribesmen also got hold of the bodies of our troops and detained one soldier. As there were a large number of tribesmen on Afghan side, our troops exercised utmost restraint to avoid civilian causalities.”
Pakistan maintains that the first shots came from the Afghan side. Faisal said Pakistan immediately contacted the Afghan authorities through diplomatic and military channels to arrange a border-flag meeting to resolve the situation. He added that commanders of the two forces met and the situation was amicably defused.
“The Afghan side handed over the bodies of five Pakistani FC personnel and the detained (soldier) to Pakistan,” Faisal confirmed.
“In their engagement, the two sides emphasized the need for the further enhancing of border coordination to avoid a recurrence of such incidents.”