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Afghanistan killed civilians: Pakistan

B. Muralidhar Reddy

They were Taliban militants, says Kabul

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday lodged a strong protest with Kabul over the alleged killing of 16 Pakistani civilians on Tuesday near Spin Boldak town by Afghan authorities.

Afghanistan says those killed were Taliban militants who had crossed into Afghanistan while Pakistan contends that they were tribesmen on their way to celebrate the Afghan New Year. The incident has come when the two nations are engaged in a war of words over the role of the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban sheltered in the tribal belt of Pakistan and their role in destabilising Afghanistan.

Protest lodged

"The Afghan Ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office here on Thursday and we have lodged a strong protest with him. We have demanded an independent and thorough investigation into the incident and punishment for those responsible," Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said. She said the civilians were arrested in Kabul and brought to Spin Boldak before being killed nearby.

Pakistan Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao alleged that Afghan soldiers killed the civilians in a "fake encounter". "They were the residents of Chaman and had gone to Afghanistan for Naurouz [Afghan New Year] celebrations," he said.

Relations between the two nations have nose dived in recent weeks after Kabul accused Islamabad of not doing enough to take on the Al-Qaeda and Taliban elements sheltered in its tribal belt. During his visit to Pakistan days before U.S. President, George W. Bush arrived in the sub-continent Afghan President Hamid Karzai complained to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf about the presence of militants sheltered in Pakistan.

An angry Gen. Musharraf dismissed the allegations as "ridiculous" and said elements in the defence and intelligence of the Afghan Government were defaming Pakistan.

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