ISLAMABAD, Feb 3 (NNN-APP) – Officials in Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal district said, a mortar shell fired from the Afghan side of the border, killed at least seven people.
Gulzar Khan, deputy superintendent of police in Bajaur, confirmed the incident there, bordering Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province.
Khan said, the mortar shell hit a house near the border and four children were among those killed.
The police officer, who arrived at the scene along with a large contingent of police, blamed militants for firing the mortar which promoted protest by the local tribal elders.
Witnesses said, parts of the house were destroyed in the incident, and police and residents pulled bodies out of the debris.
An official at the police control room in the area said that the mortar shell landed on the Pakistani side at around 5:00 p.m. local time.
Bajaur, one of Pakistan’s seven tribal districts, had been a stronghold of militants.
Pakistan temporarily closed Torkham, one of its major border crossings with Afghanistan, after two mortars fired from the Afghan soil landed on the Pakistani side. There was no casualty in the incident.– NNN-APP
