Pak probing alleged attack on Afghan official

Quetta, Feb 11: Three Pakistani men have been detained for questioning after an Afghan foreign ministry official accused them of attacking and trying to kidnap him in Chaman, a small Pakistani town on the Afghan border, a Pakistani official said. The men are in the custody of authorities in Chaman, said Noor Mohammed Jogezai, a local government administrator in the town, about 135 kilometers northwest of Quetta.

Khalid Khan, an Afghan Foreign Ministry official posted in Spinboldak, an Afghan town across the border from Chaman, told reporters he was attacked on Monday by three armed men who also tried to kidnap him.

"I ran to save my life," Khan said. Jogezai said the attackers were a taxi driver and his two friends, residents of Chaman, who had an altercation with Khan. Khan had arrived in Chaman in the taxi from Spinboldak.
People in the Afghan and Pakistani border towns freely move back and forth across their frontier and Afghans come to Chaman for business and shopping.

Bureau Report