
A Pakistani victim of cross border firing rests at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, Friday, May 5, 2017. Afghan security forces backed by artillery fired without provocation on Pakistani census workers and soldiers escorting them near the Afghan border, killing many civilians and wounding others, who included women and children, Pakistani army and government officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt) (The Associated Press)
QUETTA, Pakistan – A Pakistani army spokesman says Afghan security forces have fired on Pakistani census workers and troops escorting them near the Afghan border, killing one civilian and wounding 18 others.
Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor says four soldiers were among the wounded in Friday's attack in the border town of Chaman. He said Pakistani soldiers returned fire.
Ghafoor said Afghan troops opened fire despite being alerted in advance that census workers would be visiting villages near the border as part of the national census, which was launched in March.
However, Zia Durani, a spokesman for the police chief in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, blamed Pakistan for initiating the fire. He said Pakistan wants to use cover of data collection to help militants sneak into Afghanistan.