Afghan border police have detained a dozen Pakistani soldiers in the country’s eastern Kunar province, bordering Pakistan, according to an Afghan news website.

Gen. Muhammad Zaman, the regional border police chief, said that three of the soldiers were arrested on Tuesday night and nine others were captured on Wednesday morning in the Meetai area of the province’s Sarkani district.

According to a report on the Afghan website pajhwok.com, the armed detainees crossed into Afghanistan from the Sheikh Baba area of the Pakistani tribal district of Mohmand Agency.

Zaman added that the arrested armed men have identified themselves as Pakistan army soldiers. It was not immediately clear why they crossed the border.

The report comes in the midst of Pakistani intelligence being accused of assisting the Taliban militants in Afghanistan in their fight against the U.S. and NATO troops.

A week earlier, the Afghan army detained eight Pakistani soldiers, an officer among them, in the Sarkani district. The Pakistani troops had fled their outpost on the Afghan border after being attacked by militants. They were released by Afghan forces after an interrogation, the Afghan ministry of defense said.

Source: www.pajhwok.com, Afghanistan, June 16, 2010