PESHAWAR: A group of militants attacked a security post in a former Taliban stronghold in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, triggering a shootout that killed four troops and four insurgents, the country’s military said Friday.
The overnight attack took place in Makeen, a border town in the former tribal region of South Waziristan, the military said in a statement. It gave no further details, saying only that troops were still searching the area.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the mountainous region served as a headquarters for local and foreign militants until 2017, when the army said it had cleared the region of insurgents following several operations. The region still sees sporadic attacks, mainly targeting security forces.
Such incidents have raised fears that the Pakistani Taliban are regrouping
Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2,400-kilometer (1,500-mile) internationally recognized border known as the Durand Line, which was drawn in the 19th century when the British dominated South Asia. Afghanistan has never recognized the boundary.
The two sides also often accuse each other of turning a blind eye to militants operating along the porous frontier. Both deny this.
Attack on Pakistani post kills 4 soldiers, 4 militants in northwest
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Attack on Pakistani post kills 4 soldiers, 4 militants in northwest
- The overnight attack took place in Makeen, a border town in the former tribal region of South Waziristan
- No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, such incidents have raised fears the Pakistani Taliban are regrouping
Pakistani students stuck in Afghanistan permitted to go home
- The border between the countries has been shut since Oct. 12
- Worries remain for students about return after the winter break
JALALABAD: After three months, some Pakistani university students who were stuck in Afghanistan due to deadly clashes between the neighboring countries were “permitted to go back home,” Afghan border police said Monday.
“The students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (northwest Pakistan) who were stuck on this side of the border, only they were permitted to cross and go to their homes,” said Abdullah Farooqi, Afghan border police spokesman.
The border has “not reopened” for other people, he said.
The land border has been shut since October 12, leaving many people with no affordable option of making it home.
“I am happy with the steps the Afghan government has taken to open the road for us, so that my friends and I will be able to return to our homes” during the winter break, Anees Afridi, a Pakistani medical student in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, told AFP.
However, worries remain for the hundreds of students about returning to Afghanistan after the break ends.
“If the road is still closed from that side (Pakistan), we will be forced to return to Afghanistan for our studies by air.”
Flights are prohibitively expensive for most, and smuggling routes also come at great risk.
Anees hopes that by the time they return for their studies “the road will be open on both sides through talks between the two governments.”
