Peshawar: Pakistani and Afghan forces engaged in fierce cross-border clashes in the early hours of Wednesday, and reports of civilian casualties emerged from both sides, according to local media reports.
Heavy fighting broke out around 4 a.m. in Spin Boldak, a key border district between Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and Pakistan’s Balochistan region, Afghanistan-based Khaama Press reported, quoting sources.
The escalation follows a brief confrontation on Tuesday night near the border in Khost province, where Afghan forces and Pakistani border guards exchanged fire along the Durand Line.
This marks the second exchange of fire between the two sides this week along their shared border.
Pakistan’s state-run media, however, claimed that Afghan forces opened fire first “without provocation”, prompting Pakistani troops to retaliate. It also reported that Pakistani forces had damaged several Afghan tanks and border posts during the exchange.
Although the clashes halted on Sunday after appeals from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, all border crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained closed.
Over the weekend, Kabul said that it targeted several Pakistani military posts and killed 58 Pakistani soldiers in retaliation for what it called repeated violations of Afghan territory and airspace. Pakistan’s military reported lower figures, saying it lost 23 soldiers and killed more than 200 “Taliban and affiliated terrorists” in retaliatory fire along the frontier.
Tensions have remained high since last week, when the Taliban government accused Pakistan of carrying out airstrikes in Kabul and in an eastern market. Pakistan has not acknowledged those allegations.
But Pakistan has previously launched strikes inside Afghanistan, saying it targets hideouts of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which is separate from but allied to the Afghan Taliban.
