Asia

Pakistan dispatches supplies to southwest border villages

Associated Press
Published | Updated

A Pakistani border security guard stands alert at Pakistan-Afghanistan border post, Chaman in Pakistan, Friday, May 5, 2017. Backed by artillery, Afghan security forces fired across the border on Pakistani census workers and troops escorting them on Friday, killing many people and drawing a response from the military, Pakistan said. On the Afghan side, officials reported that scores of people killed in the incident, a significant escalation of hostilities between the two neighbours. (AP Photo/Matiullah Achakzai) (The Associated Press)

The moon rises by the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F09) that lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, Friday, May 5, 2017. India successfully launched the GSAT-9 satellite, the South Asia Communication Satellite, to provide communications services to its neighboring countries. Initially known as the SAARC satellite, it is now called the South Asia Satellite after Pakistan pulled out of the project. Seven of the eight South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, namely India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Maldives, are part of the project. (AP Photo) (The Associated Press)

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)

Officials say Pakistan has dispatched truckloads of relief supplies to villages along the southwest border with Afghanistan where 11 people were killed in fighting between the two countries that prompted Pakistan to close a border crossing.

Akhtar Mohammad, a doctor at Chaman hospital, said Saturday that some persons wounded in the skirmishes a day earlier are still traumatized. About 50 Pakistanis were wounded when Afghanistan allegedly fired across the border on census workers and troops escorting them.

Kabul reported six deaths on the Afghan side.

Pakistan is holding a nationwide census, which reignited a centuries-old border dispute between Islamabad and Kabul at the boundary, known as the Durand Line, which runs through some villages.