Pakistan Says Those Killed Were Innocent

Pakistan says a group of its nationals killed by Afghanistan security forces were innocent civilians but Afghanistan says they were Taliban from Pakistan.

A Pakistani embassy spokesman in the Afghan capital of Kabul told the BBC those killed in the Wednesday incident were innocent Pakistani civilians. An Afghan border security commander said 15 Taliban fighters were killed by Afghan forces, the report said.

An Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman later told the BBC, They were Taliban who crossed the border from Pakistan and wanted to kill in a terrorist operation.

But Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao was quoted in the Pakistani media as saying the men had gone to Afghanistan to celebrate the Afghan New Year in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. They were not Taliban, he said.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated with the Afghan government accusing Pakistan of failing to stop Taliban militants from entering its territory, says the report. Pakistan denies it and has questioned the quality of Afghan intelligence.