Pakistan summons Afghan, Indian diplomats after soldiers, civilian killed

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has summoned diplomats from Afghanistan and India after several shooting incidents along two different borders killed four Pakistani soldiers and a civilian woman.

The latest incidents come at an especially tense time between Pakistan and India, and as talks between the United States and the Afghan Taliban have broken down.

Pakistan's Foreign Office summoned an Afghan diplomat on Saturday to account for what it said was firing into Pakistan by militants in Afghanistan, a spokesman for Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The militants shot and killed a Pakistani soldier on patrol in one incident late on Friday. In a second incident, Pakistani forces fencing a section of the border were attacked and three were killed, the ministry said on Saturday.

Both incidents occurred in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistan underscored in its meeting with the Afghan diplomat that Afghanistan was responsible for securing its side of the border.

An Afghan government spokesman could not be immediately reached.

Pakistan also summoned an Indian diplomat on Saturday after it said firing by Indian forces across the Line of Control (LoC) in Azad Kashmir killed a 40-year-old woman from the village of Balakot.

Pakistan foreign affairs spokesman Mohammad Faisal said in a statement on Saturday that India deliberately targets civilian areas.