Pakistan Says Afghan Forces Kill 6 Civilians in Cross-Border Fire 

Residents gather after Taliban forces fired mortars at Pakistan's border town of Chaman on December 11, 2022. (AFP)
Residents gather after Taliban forces fired mortars at Pakistan's border town of Chaman on December 11, 2022. (AFP)
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Pakistan Says Afghan Forces Kill 6 Civilians in Cross-Border Fire 

Residents gather after Taliban forces fired mortars at Pakistan's border town of Chaman on December 11, 2022. (AFP)
Residents gather after Taliban forces fired mortars at Pakistan's border town of Chaman on December 11, 2022. (AFP)

Heavy gunfire and artillery shelling by Afghan border forces killed six civilians across the border in Pakistan on Sunday and wounded another 17, the Pakistan army said. 

Pakistani troops retaliated at the Chaman border crossing in southwestern Balochistan province, the army said in a statement, without giving details of any losses on the other side. 

Afghan official Noor Ahmad, in Kandahar, the province on the Afghan side of the border, told Reuters the incident was accidental and the situation had returned to normal after the two sides had a meeting. 

He gave no further details on any casualties on Afghan side. 

Afghan security sources said the clash started after Pakistani forces demanded that Afghan forces stop building a new check post on their side of the border. 

The Pakistan army statement described the incident as an "uncalled for aggression" and said Pakistani troops had responded proportionately, avoiding the targeting of civilians on the other side. 

"Afghan Border Forces opened unprovoked and indiscriminate fire of heavy weapons including artillery/mortar onto the civilian population," the statement said. 

Pakistan had approached Kabul to demand action to avoid a recurrence of the incident, it said. 

The busy Afghan border crossing at Chaman, used for trade and transit, was closed for some hours before reopening, officials on both sides said. The crossing was closed for several days last month after similar clashes. 



Attacker Wounds Policeman Guarding Israel's Embassy in Serbia before Being Shot Dead

Police officers block off traffic at an intersection close to the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)
Police officers block off traffic at an intersection close to the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)
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Attacker Wounds Policeman Guarding Israel's Embassy in Serbia before Being Shot Dead

Police officers block off traffic at an intersection close to the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)
Police officers block off traffic at an intersection close to the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, June 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

An attacker with a crossbow wounded a Serbian police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade on Saturday, Serbia’s interior ministry said. The officer responded by fatally shooting the assailant.
Both Serbian and Israeli officials said that initial indications are that it was a terror-motivated attack.
Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said in a statement that the attacker fired a bolt at the officer, hitting him in the neck. He said the officer then "used a weapon in self-defense to shoot the attacker, who died as a result of his injuries.”
The policeman was conscious when he was transported to Belgrade's main emergency hospital, where an operation to remove the bolt from his neck will be performed, the statement added.

The policeman is in a life-threatening condition and is undergoing surgery, Serbian news agency Tanjug quoted Dacic as saying.
A spokesman with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “today there was an attempted terrorist attack in the vicinity of the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade.” The spokesman said the embassy is closed and no employee of the embassy was injured.
Dacic told reporters that “we are still talking about possible motives."
He added, however: “There are now all indications that the motives relate to terrorism. Because there is no other motive why someone would attack a gendarme outside the Israeli Embassy.”
He said one person was arrested near the scene of the shooting. Police are investigating a possible network and ties with foreign terrorist groups, he added.
The identity of the attacker was still being determined.
Authorities raised the security alert in Belgrade, including for foreign embassies and government buildings but also public places such as shopping malls and other busy areas.