Taliban: Afghanistan regrets deadly border shooting incident

ISLAMABAD (AP) - The Taliban expressed regret Tuesday for a shooting incident that killed a Pakistani soldier over the weekend and led to the closure of a main border crossing.

Chaman, in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, is the most important border point for trade between the two countries, after Torkham in the country's mountainous northwest.

Taliban-appointed spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Afghanistan "expresses regret'ť for the incident and has appointed a high-level committee to investigate it.

He said the border guard was shot dead by an unknown person.

'œThe security institutions of the Islamic Emirate are trying to pay serious attention to prevent such incidents from happening again,'ť Mujahid said.

The frontier between Pakistan and Afghanistan has seen similar shooting incidents before at Chaman, Torkham and other crossing points.

Officials did not immediately say when the border crossing at Chaman will reopen.

Thousands of Afghans are waiting to cross the border on either side.