9 Afghan men arrested for attempting to enter Pakistan

An Afghan national was injured and nine others were arrested in Pakistan's restive Khyber Agency while trying to sneak into the country without legal travel documents, officials said on Wednesday.

The ten-member group, which tried to cross the border at midnight on Monday about a kilometre north of the main border crossing, came under fire from police forces.

The khasadar police resorted to fire after the illegal Afghans tried to escape from near the Jumagai security check-post, the Dawn reported.

One Afghan identified as Jan Agha, a resident of Nangrahar province, was injured when a bullet hit him in leg while the remaining were arrested, the report said. The injured was shifted to a local hospital while the arrested Afghans were put in prison for further investigation.

Pakistan has intensified border patrolling to curb entry of illegal Afghans into the country.

Pakistan has been tackling Afghan refugee crisis for over three decades. It is estimated that some three million Afghan refugees are living in Pakistan, half of whom are unregistered.