Clashes erupt on Pak-Afghan border

Pakistani and Afghan officials accused each other of killing civilians yesterday after gunfire erupted near a major border crossing where Pakistani census officials were carrying out a count, exacerbating tensions between the neighbours.

At least eight civilians were killed, according to officials -- seven on the Pakistani side, and one on the Afghan side -- and dozens wounded before the fighting near the Chaman border crossing subsided late yesterday afternoon, officials said.

Samim Khpalwak, spokesman for the governor of Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, said the Pakistani census officials had strayed on to the Afghan side of the border and were attempting to count people living there.

The census enumerators are being accompanied by security forces as they carry out the count.

Kandahar police chief Abdul Raziq said one civilian was killed and up to 17 Afghan troops wounded, adding he had asked his men to hold fire -- unless Pakistani forces begin shooting again.

But Pakistan's military and Foreign Office maintained they had told Afghan authorities where they would be in advance, saying that "indiscriminate" fire had killed seven Pakistani civilians and wounded 33 more, including four paramilitary border police.