One killed, five injured as shelling from Afghanistan hits South Waziristan house

A projectile fired from across the Afghan border struck a house in Angoor Adda, South Waziristan, killing one civilian and wounding five members of the same family, according to security sources quoted by ARY News and Minute Mirror.

The sources said the shell hit a populated area and that the dead and the injured belonged to one household. Neither outlet named the victims. Minute Mirror noted that independent confirmation of the reported damage, and of the full extent of the military response, had not been provided. At the time of filing, no statement had been issued by the district administration or by the military's media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations.

According to the same security sources, Pakistani troops responded to the shelling and destroyed several Afghan checkposts. ARY News quoted the sources as saying the response was continuing and that troops deployed along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border were on high alert. Neither report gave any figure for casualties or damage on the Afghan side, and the claim about the checkposts could not be verified independently.

Angoor Adda lies in South Waziristan close to the Afghan frontier and is a crossing point used for trade as well as for the movement of people. Villages near the border in the district have borne the brunt of intermittent exchanges of fire over the past several years.

The incident follows a Foreign Office briefing on 9 October, in which a spokesperson said attacks launched from Afghan territory had increased and that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Balochistan Liberation Army and other armed groups had gained greater room to operate in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan. The spokesperson said Pakistan had given the Afghan government precise information about the locations where those groups were operating, and had raised the issue at regional forums including the Moscow Format.

The spokesperson also said Pakistan remained committed to political dialogue, diplomacy and de-escalation, while describing terrorism as a fundamental security concern. Pakistan's concerns were reflected in a joint statement issued after an earlier meeting, the spokesperson said, but the Afghan Taliban had not agreed to retain the same language in this year's discussions.

The border between the two countries is largely unmarked along its length and has been closed repeatedly in recent years amid disputes over cross-border movement and the fencing programme Pakistan has carried out along the frontier.