Reports: Gunfire at Afghan-Pakistan border leaves 1 dead

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunfire and a deadly shooting have led to the closing of a main border crossing between Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, officials from both countries said on Sunday.

Chaman in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province is the most important border point for trade between the two countries, after Torkham in the country’s mountainous northwest.

The shooting left dead a Pakistani border guard and wounded two others, a leading trader in Chaman said.

Imran Ahmed Khan, who has served as an official with the local chamber of commerce in recent years, said he attended the funeral of the soldier killed in the cross-border shooting.

Pakistani officials were not available immediately for comment.

Attaullah Zaid, spokesman for the governor of Afghanistan’s neighboring province of Kandahar, confirmed the incident but said there were no casualties on the Afghan side.

A security official in Kandahar said the problem started when Taliban soldiers on their side asked Pakistani border guards to stop mistreating Afghan nationals.

The unruly frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan has seen similar shooting incidents before at Chaman, Torkham and other crossing points.

Officials did not immediately say when the border crossing at Chaman would reopen.