UPPER DIR/ISLAMABAD - The security forces repulsed an attack by miscreants from Afghanistan’s Kunar province on a checkpost here Friday, killing five militants. A soldier also embraced martyrdom in the attack. Reportedly, a group of militants, who had fled Malakand Division and went into hiding in Afghanistan’s Kunar province bordering Upper Dir, fired shots and rockets at a checkpoint in Karakar area of Barawal, martyring a soldier. The forces retaliated against the attack, killing five militants. The martyr was named as Iqbal. It was the second attack on the checkpost from Afghan side in the past nine days.  The exchange of fire started at around 10am was said to have continued for about a couple of hours. The military officials said that Afghan militants had tried to attack Kharakar checkpost located at the road adjoining Barawal and Maidan villages in Upper Dir but it was foiled. The number of causalities and injuries could not be verified from any independent source. On the other hand, Kunar's Provincial Government Spokesman Wasifullah Wasifi said the attackers had come from Pakistan's side of the border and were patronised by Pakistani militants.–Reporter
 “They were terrorists from Pakistan who carried out this misadventure to malign Afghanistan," he said. "We'll probe to find out if these terrorists belonged to the Haqqani network, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Islam or any other militant group. They tried to malign us by putting blame on us without any initial investigation," he said referring to accusations from Pakistani security officials. According to the spokesman, the number of causalities was not known.When contacted, Upper Dir District Coordination Officer Riaz Mehsud said the security forces were taking care of the situation. “It happened in the Barawal area. There have been some reported causalities but exact number is not known. The security forces are taking care of the situation. We (the district administration) are not involved," he said by phone.
In September last, the Pakistan Army had launched a crackdown following deployment of additional troops in Chitral and Upper Dir to take on, what it termed, repeated cross-border incursions by Afghan militants at the border areas.Military troops mostly from Swat and Malakand Division were moved to Maidan in Upper Dir that is the native town of the detained terrorist and Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat Muhammadi (TNSM) chief Maulana Sufi Muhammad, reportedly under detention in Dera Ismail Khan.According to the military officials, the additional troops deployment would augment the already deployed troops of Frontier Corps (FC) in Chitral and Upper Dir. As part of the new strategy devised in September, the newly-deployed troops and already deputed FC personnel were brought under the direct command of the 19th Division, a Pakistan Army's military division that has maximum concentration in Swat and Malakand Division. In August last, hundreds of militants had attacked the adjoining belt of Drosh in Chitral and martyring 25 soldiers and destroying Pakistani paramilitary forces checkposts.A month earlier, a similar attack was reported to have taken place in the Nusrat Darra village of Upper Dir by the Afghan militants from the bordering Kunar and Nursitan provinces.