QUETTA: Afghan security forces have fired on Pakistani census workers and troops escorting them near the Afghan border, killing six civilians and wounding 18 others.

Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor says four soldiers were among the wounded in Friday's attack in the border town of Chaman. He said Pakistani soldiers returned fire.

Ghafoor said Afghan troops opened fire despite being alerted in advance that census workers would be visiting villages near the border as part of the national census, which was launched in March.

However, Zia Durani, a spokesman for the police chief in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, blamed Pakistan for initiating the fire. He said Pakistan wants to use cover of data collection to help militants sneak into Afghanistan. -AP