KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, March 30 (UPI) -- A powerful Afghan general in the nation's southern Kandahar province has been arrested in connection with last week's killing of 17 Pakistanis.
Abdul Raziq, military commander of the Spin Boldak district, was placed under house arrest at the order of provincial governor Asadullah Khalid, while an independent commission investigated the March 22 killing.
Afghan security forces shot the Pakistanis after they crossed the border into Spin Boldak. Raziq claimed that the victims were members of the Taliban and were planning to attack Afghan forces in the area, Pakistani Web site Dawn reported Wednesday.
The Pakistani government has denied that the victims were militants. A Pakistani Embassy spokesman in the Afghan capital of Kabul told the BBC last week that those killed were "innocent Pakistani civilians" who were entering Afghanistan to participate in the Afghan New Year celebration.
