In a statement released today, Major General Athar Abbas denied claims that the Pakistani military has been launching large scale rocket attacks against Afghan border villages, terming the claims simply untrue.

Maj. Gen. Abbas confirmed that shells had been fired near the border against retreating militant factions after an attack on a border post, and said he “could not rule out” that some of the rounds may have strayed across the border.

Still this would be a far cry from the reports from Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who yesterday claimed 470 rocket strikes against Eastern Afghanistan had killed 36 people over the past three weeks.

Militant factions have been increasingly active in Afghanistan’s Kunar Province in recent weeks, with the forces launching attacks on Pakistani military posts and villages near the border, both in Bajaur and Dir.

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