Afghans protest border clash outside Pakistan embassy

The protests, part of a series held against Pakistan in several areas of the country in recent days, ended peacefully, residents said.

Pakistani forces crossed into Afghan territory and killed 13 people, including children and police, in two days of clashes, according to the Afghan Foreign Ministry.

Security was tight outside the embassy and there was no violence, police said. Protesters have stormed Pakistan’s missions in Kabul several times in the past.

“We will teach you a lesson, Pakistan,” shouted Hazrat Mir Zazai, joining other protesters yelling anti-Pakistan slogans on loudspeakers.

Relations between the neighbours, both US allies in a war on terrorism, have deteriorated sharply in the past 18 months as an insurgency in Afghanistan gathered strength,

Both sides blame the other for a resurgence of Taliban militants.

Many of the protesters come from Paktia, the southeastern province where the clashes occurred.

The Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded statement on Monday urging “Pakistan to prevent such action that would entail dangerous consequences for the stability of the region”.

Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta -- who was removed from office by parliament at the weekend but is still working until a court ruling -- had sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to protest “the attacks of Pakistani forces”.

Pakistan said the clashes began when Afghan troops, without provocation, fired on a handful of border posts in the Kurram tribal district in northwest Pakistan.

A NATO soldier was killed and four wounded on Monday in an ambush by unknown assailants while returning to the Afghan side after a flag meeting with Pakistani officers to discuss how to end the skirmishes on the border, a statement by the Western military alliance said.

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