Pakistan army kills 30 Afghan militants after border raid

The raid on Sunday night by a group of more than 200 Afghans could further damage an already difficult relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which often accuse each other of failing to halt cross-border operations by militants.

One Pakistani soldier was killed and four were wounded in the latest frontier incident, which lasted close to an hour, the Pakistani officials said. There was no independent confirmation of the number of militants killed.

"The attack happened in the Barawal area of Upper Dir. Pakistani forces retaliated and the intruders slipped back," said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Barawal is around 200 km (124 miles) northwest of the capital Islamabad.

Tension between the countries has been high since Afghan officials accused Pakistan's main intelligence agency of masterminding the Sept. 20 assassination of Kabul's chief peace negotiator with the Taleban. Pakistan strongly denied the allegations.

Pakistan has repeatedly blamed Afghanistan for giving safe haven to militants on its side of the border, leaving Pakistan vulnerable to counter-attack when it chases them out of its own ethnic Pashtun tribal areas in the northwest.

The border area is home to several of the world's most dangerous militant groups, who train there and organize attacks on US-led NATO forces and the Afghan army in Afghanistan, and government forces in Pakistan; Kazinform cites Arab News.

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