New Delhi: Amid reports of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar hiding in tribal areas along the Pak-Afghan border, Pakistan Army units are reported to have intruded into and captured parts of Afghan territory last month prompting Kabul to lodge strong protests with Islamabad, diplomatic sources said.

The latest reported act of intrusion was on October 30 when a battalion of Pakistan Army seized a big part of Afghan territory near Khost, seven kilometres deep and 15 km wide, with Islamabad claiming ownership, the sources said.

They said instances of Pakistani forces violating the Durand Line, which demarcates Pakistan and Afghanistan, also occurred on October 10 when they set up two posts near Mushtri Kandan inside the Afghan territory.

On October 23, the forces again entered four kilometres inside the Afghan territory and hoisted Pakistani flags, they said.

Afghan Foreign Office and the Army have both lodged strong protest with Islamabad and a meeting of Defence personnel from both sides could take place in the near future to resolve the issue, the sources said.

The Pak-Afghan border was demarcated by the Durand Line under a 100-year agreement which lapsed in 1983. The agreement had come into being after the third Afghan War which saw Britain acquiring vast tracts of Pashtoon territory that was later merged with the North West Frontier Province when Pakistan was formed.

Even before the agreement lapsed, successive Afghan governments attempted to renegotiate the boundary but failed. During the Taleban rule, Islamabad also wanted to renew the agreement but later decided against it.

The sources said Islamabad was now trying to convert the border into a Line of Control kind of arrangement so that it could lay claim to areas on the other side of the border in search of a strategic depth.

A desperate Hamid Karzai regime could now be expected to be more anxious to renew the border agreement as Islamabad was likely to make demands for adjustments in areas along the border, they added.

PTI