Afghan envoy rejects claim that 50 soldiers were killed by Pak troops

Islamabad, May 08: Afghanistan’s envoy to Pakistan on Monday rejected claims that Pakistani security forces killed 50 Afghan soldiers in retaliation for a cross-border attack at Chaman, saying only two Afghan soldiers were slain and seven more injured.
“Woke up to celebratory front page headlines today on all Pakistani papers saying Pakistan killed 50 Afghan soldiers and injured 100 in Chaman clash,” Zakhilwal tweeted, adding, “(The) truth is only 2 Afghan soldiers were shaheed and about 7 injured.”
On Sunday, a senior official of Pakistan’s Frontier Corps, Maj Gen Nadeem Anjum, said 50 Afghan security personnel were killed and another 100 injured as troops retaliated to firing by Afghan border forces in the Chaman area last week.
Anjum, who heads the Frontier Corps in Balochistan, also said four to five check posts were destroyed when Pakistani troops retaliated to the cross-border attack. He added that Afghanistan pleaded for a ceasefire on May 5, which was accepted by Pakistan.
On Friday, Pakistan closed its border with Afghanistan after attacks by Afghan forces on census staff and security personnel escorting them left 12 people dead and 40 more injured. 
Zakhilwal criticised media reports on the incident, saying, “The Chaman clash left casualties, deaths and injured on Pakistan side too but we, instead of celebrating, called it unfortunate and regrettable.”
The loss of even two lives was “too many if our claim for seeking good neighbourly relations is genuine and if we mean well for each other”, he added. PTI