A new wave of intense border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday resulted in the deaths of dozens of troops and civilians, according to officials on both sides. The clashes mark the second straight week of hostilities between the two neighbors, which were initially triggered by explosions in Afghanistan last week, for which Kabul blamed Pakistan.
In the latest violence, Pakistan’s military accused the Afghan Taliban of attacking two major border posts in the southwest and northwest.
It said both assaults were repelled, with about 20 Taliban fighters killed in attacks launched near Spin Boldak on the Afghan side of the frontier in southern Kandahar province early on Wednesday.
"Unfortunately the attack was orchestrated through divided villages in the area, with no regard for the civil population," the military said in a statement. It also said about 30 more were thought to have been killed in overnight clashes along Pakistan's northwest border.
The Afghan Taliban said 15 civilians were killed and dozens wounded in the clashes near Spin Boldak and that "two to three" of its fighters were also killed.
Ali Mohammad Haqmal, an Afghan spokesman for the information department in the Spin Boldak region, said civilians were killed by mortar fire.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also aid an oil tanker and a generator had exploded, sparking fires in the Afghan capital on Wednesday evening.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid accused Pakistani forces of "once again" carrying out attacks "with light and heavy weapons" in the district.
Mujahid said in a statement that 100 civilians were also wounded, adding that calm had returned to the area after Pakistani soldiers were killed and posts and weapons seized.
The Pakistan military said these were "outrageous and blatant lies".
Pakistan did not give a toll for its losses in the latest clashes but said last week 23 of its troops had been killed in the opening skirmishes.
In Spin Boldak region of Afghanistan, a resident described houses being fired upon, which resulted in the deaths of his cousin's wife and son, with four children wounded.
All local businesses are now closed, and many residents have fled. In Chaman, on the Pakistani side, one resident described the pre-dawn clashes as "total chaos," causing terror among women and children.
The renewed violence comes as tensions, fuelled by security issues, flare between the neighbouring countries.
Islamabad has accused Afghanistan of harbouring militant groups led by the Pakistani Taliban Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), a claim Kabul denies.
Last Thursday, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in parliament that several attempts to convince the Afghan Taliban to stop supporting the TTP had failed.
Islamabad accuses the TTP -- which was combat-trained in Afghanistan and claims to share the ideology of the Taliban there -- of killing hundreds of Pakistani soldiers since 2021.
Last week's explosions in Afghanistan -- still unclaimed -- took place while the Taliban's top diplomat was making a previously unprecedented visit to Pakistan's arch-rival India.
Clashes erupted on Saturday evening when Kabul launched an operation in at least five provinces along the border.
The Taliban government said it attacked Pakistani security forces in "retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul".
Islamabad vowed a forceful response on Sunday, and dozens of casualties were reported on both sides.
(With inputs from PTI, AFP and AP)
