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Army major killed in Afghan firing across the border

Peshawar - Two countries increase troops at Khyber Pass border after clash

A Pakistani military officer died on Tuesday after being shot by Afghan forces during a clash at the Torkham border, Pakistan's military said, a development likely to ratchet up tension between the neighbours who sources said were beefing up troop numbers on either side.
The main gates at Torkham remained closed for a third day on Tuesday, leaving thousands stranded on either side of the most frequented official border crossing at the end of the Khyber Pass.
Firing between Pakistani and Afghan forces first broke out on Sunday evening at the crossing, about 45km west of Peshawar, over the construction of a new border post on the Pakistani side. The Afghan forces objected to the construction of a gate on the Pakistani side.
Major Jawad Ali Changezi was among nine Pakistani and six Afghan troops who were wounded in the fighting, according to security officials. One Afghan soldier was killed, Afghan officials said on Monday.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office and the Pakistani military's press wing confirmed Maj. Changezi's death.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained for months. Kabul alleges Pakistan is harbouring militants seeking to overthrow the Afghan government, including the Haqqani Network and the leadership of the Afghan Taleban.
Pakistan denies it supports militants and says it is building the gate at Torkham to stop the movement of militants across the border.
The Pakistani military justified the construction of the gate at Torkham, saying "terrorists" were using the busy crossing point.
"In order to check movement of terrorists through Torkham, Pakistan is constructing a gate on (our) own side of the border as a necessity to check unwanted and illegal movement," the military said in a statement on Monday.
On Tuesday, Afghanistan summoned the Pakistani ambassador to register its protest at the violence. Pakistan had similarly summoned the Afghan Charge d'Affaires in Islamabad on Monday.
Pakistani security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the army had moved heavy weaponry and additional troops to the Afghan border on Monday night.
On Monday, an Afghan border police commander also confirmed that reinforcements had been deployed to the Afghan side of the border.
The Pakistan-Afghanistan border has long remained porous and disputed. Afghanistan has blocked repeated attempts by Pakistan to build a fence on sections of the roughly 2,200km long frontier, rejecting the contours of the boundary. After suffering from terror attacks for years, Pakistan wants to improve the border management to stop movement of terrorists who enter its territory from Afghanistan in the garb of refugees.
Torkham is one of the major crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where hundreds of trucks and thousands of people cross the border daily through the Khyber Pass.
The border was closed over similar clashes last month, but was reopened after an understanding was reached between the two countries.