Miranshah, Pakistan (ANTARA News/AFP) - Shells fired by coalition forces in Afghanistan Friday killed at least three people across the border in a northwestern tribal area of Pakistan, officials said.

They said a gunbattle had erupted between troops and Taliban militants in the Afghan province of Khost, and mortar shells hit houses in Saidgi village, in Pakistan`s militant-troubled North Waziristan district.

"Three people were killed and five others were wounded by mortar shells fired by coalition forces from the Afghanistan side during a gunfight with Taliban militants," a local security official told AFP.

A tribal administration official confirmed the incident and death toll, but requested anonymity.

A Pakistan military spokesman was not immediately available for comment, while NATO`s International Security Assistance Force said in an email to AFP: "We have no reporting of any ISAF operations in that area last night or today."

Washington has branded the remote rugged area on the Afghan border a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous place on Earth.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has told NATO-led forces fighting the Taliban that they should concentrate their efforts on militant hideouts on the Pakistani side of the border.

US forces have been waging a drone war against Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked commanders in the northwestern tribal belt, where the leaders of a nearly nine-year insurgency in Afghanistan are believed to be based.
(Uu.M014/P003)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
COPYRIGHT © 2012

Comment
Send Comment