Pakistan army rejects Afghanistan claim of border attack

Pakistan rejected as baseless claims by Afghan officials that Pakistani troops on Thursday attacked its border forces and killed one Afghan security personnel. Afghan officials said one border policeman died as clashes broke out between the Pakistani and Afghan troops along the border in southern Kandahar province in the morning. The Kandahar police chief spokesman, Ahmad Zia Durani, said the clashes broke out after Afghan border police forces "stopped the Pakistani troops from building check posts inside the Afghan soil. " In a statement, Pakistan army rejected the claim that any new construction is being carried out by Pakistani troops inside the Afghan territory. The statement said Afghan National Army troops resorted to unprovoked firing on Pakistani post Thursday morning in Loe Bund area near Qilla Saifullah in Balochistan province. "Pakistani troops responded effectively to Afghan Army troops firing. No loss has been reported so far," the statement said. Afghan official said clashes started along the border in Maroof district of Kandahar region at 7 a.m. local time and both sides used small and heavy weapons. Pakistan and Afghanistan have nearly 2,500 kilometers joint border and both routinely accuse each other of cross-border attacks. Pakistan says that senior leaders of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have regrouped fighters in Afghanistan border region and frequently launch attacks on Pakistani border posts. Officials also say that the TTP chief, Maulvi Fazalullah, leads his men in Afghanistan's Nuristan province. Kabul also claims that senior Afghan Taliban leaders are hiding and operating from Pakistan.