[As usual, the recriminations and obligatory denials are flying over the latest mass movement of militants/troops across the Durand Line into Nuristan in Afghanistan. What is unusual though, is how part of it managed to be captured for YouTube. The Russian version of the incident calls the invaders militants, while the Afghan story below that charges that they are Pakistani troops disguised as Taliban fighters. Who knows?
The beat goes on.]
Hundreds of Pakistani militants attacked the Afghan province of Nuristan
© Mercator
MOSCOW, August 2 – RIA Novosti.
Squads of Pakistani “Malysz” – Border Police formed on tribal grounds – on Thursday invaded the districts of Matale Kamdesh Barga and the eastern Afghan province of Nuristan, the provincial governor told the media Tamim Nuristani.
According to him, for two miles along the Afghan-Pakistan having undefined boundaries of militants, dressed in traditional Afghan clothing Taliban stormed the administrative building and fire houses. Pakistan Malysz opposed only to the police, army units in the area of the incident there.
According to the Nuristani, accurate data about the losses on both sides yet, but the skirmish lasted for many hours.
According to the head of the security forces control the police Nuristan Gulyamully Khan, 250 militants attacked Barga Matale district and another 350 – County Kamdesh. The militants came from the area of the gorge Mandegal, which shares a border with Afghanistan for seven miles.
According to preliminary reports, and police officials, the first attack has been contained, at present all along the line of collision is firing.
The fighting in Nuristan go along the so-called “Durand Line” – the former Indo-Afghan border, established in 1893 by agreement of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Anglo-Indian government Mortimer Durand with the Emir of Afghanistan, Abdur Rahman Khan. Currently, however, the Afghans do not recognize the “Durand Line” (which is acknowledged Pakistan – part of the former British India), because they believe that the Afghan native land, with a population pushtunskime tribes are Afghan territory.
Kamdesh attacked by Pak troops, claims Nuristani
JALALABAD (PAN): Dozens of Pakistani paramilitary troops in the guise of Taliban attacked the headquarters of Kamdesh district in eastern Nuristan province, officials said on Thursday.
But the Taliban and an Afghan National Army official said they were unaware of the cross-border attack on the district centre with heavy weapons.
Governor Tamim Nuristani said a fierce gunbattle was ongoing between the attackers and security forces. The assault was launched from the Mandgal Dara area — two kilometers from the district headquarters.
The attackers sneaked into the area from the Ola Gul area of Barg-i-Matal district, the governor said, claiming that the assailants were Pakistani paramilitary troops disguised as Taliban.
He said the attackers would not be able to advance on the district, much less overrun it, due to the presence of Afghan National Army troops. Nuristani had no information about casualties, but said the firefight was ongoing.
Police chief Col. Ghulam Ali Khan told Pajhwok Afghan News they had reports that 250 Pakistani paramilitary troops had entered Barg-i-Matal district and 350 Kamdesh.
He said some Pakistani soldiers killed in the latest skirmish with Afghan forces were buried in the Titigul valley. The attack was aimed at taking revenge for their deaths, he continued.
Khan said Mandgal Dara, a seven-kilometer pass, started from the border with Pakistan’s Chitral district and stretched to Kamdesh. The insurgents are in control of the district.
He said the Afghan army and police retaliated with artillery fire, forcing the attackers to retreat.
A spokesman for the 201st Selab Military Corps, Col. Mohammad Noman Hatifi, said he was unaware about the attack. However, he acknowledged the area was under threat from rebels.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, also said he had no information about the Kamdesh attack.
ma/mud
