Nine Pakistanis hurt in fire from Afghanistan

WANA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Seven Pakistani soldiers and two civilians have been wounded by firing from inside Afghanistan in the latest incident along the border between the uneasy U.S. allies.

Last month, Pakistan was outraged when 11 of its border soldiers were killed in a U.S. air strike as U.S. forces battled Taliban militants.

Days later, Afghan President Hamid Karazi, increasingly frustrated with Taliban attacks into Afghanistan from Pakistani sanctuaries, threatened to send troops into Pakistan to fight the insurgents.

A Pakistani intelligence official said it was not clear who had fired dozens of mortar bombs across the border into Pakistan’s South Waziristan region on Thursday night.

“About 60 rounds fell in Angoor Adda,” said the official, referring to a Pakistani village on the border. “Some of them hit our post and wounded seven soldiers,” said the official, who declined to be identified.

The firing began after Taliban had attacked a foreign troop base on the Afghan side of the border, he said.

Two rounds landed in the village’s main market, wounding two people, a district government official said.

Pakistani military spokesmen were not available for comment.