🔗 Share this article

Fresh fighting broke out along the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier early on Wednesday, with both parties blaming the opposing side of starting deadly clashes.

Pakistan's military announced that its forces had killed "15-20 Taliban fighters" and wounded many in the Spin Boldak border district.

A Taliban government representative said that 12 Afghan civilians had been killed and more than 100 injured by Pakistani firing. He further stated that several military personnel had been lost their lives. None of the alleged fatalities could be independently confirmed.

Hostilities between the neighbouring countries has flared since explosions rocked Afghanistan last week, which the Afghan capital blamed on Islamabad. The Taliban reject allegations that it is harboring armed groups aiming at Pakistan.

Online Platforms and Armed Confrontations

The opposing forces are not only fighting for the upper hand on the border, but also on social media, trying to persuade the public that their faction is inflicting greater losses.

The latest fighting follow intense cross-border confrontations over the weekend, when the Taliban claimed to have killed fifty-eight members of the Islamabad's armed forces and Islamabad said it neutralized 200 "militants and affiliated terrorists". The reported death tolls announced by each side could not be independently verified.

Several days of fragile peace that had persisted since the weekend were broken on Wednesday morning.

On-the-Ground Accounts and Consequences

Footage purportedly of the fighting and its aftereffects have been circulated on the internet and on social channels, including images said to be of those killed and grainy shots from night vision cameras purporting to be of guard positions destroyed. These videos have not been verified.

A source in Spin Boldak in Afghanistan stated that clashes erupted at around 4 a.m. local time (23:30 GMT on the previous day). Another resident in Spin Boldak, who lives about one kilometre away from the border crossing, reported that "intense hostilities continued for almost five hours".

"We observed drones and fighter planes soaring over us, some of our relatives are wounded," they said.

A doctor in one of the medical facilities in the region reported that he counted "seven fatalities and 36 injured brought to the medical center", including men, women and children.

The situation were "strained" and additional victims were being transferred to medical care, he said.

Displacement and International Responses

A local Taliban official in Spin Boldak stated that "hundreds of families have been displaced since last night due to the heavy fighting". He said they were on "high alert" after a several military positions were attacked by aircraft from Pakistan. He further indicated that they had the remains of 2 armed forces members.

In a separate night-time clash on the north-western frontier, the Pakistani military claimed that 25 to 30 Taliban and Pakistani Taliban fighters were "believed" to have been killed.

The hostilities have prompted appeals for reduced tensions from foreign nations including China and Russia, as well as a proposal from US President Donald Trump that he could intervene to facilitate peace.

On Wednesday, a UN official, United Nations representative on the conditions of civil liberties in Afghanistan, wrote on a social media platform that he was "very worried" by reports of civilian casualties and evacuations because of the fighting.

"I call on everyone involved to exercise maximum restraint, safeguard non-combatants, and follow international law," he wrote.

Historical Tensions

Islamabad has for years accused the Taliban authorities of allowing the Pakistani militants to function from their territory and fight against the Islamabad government in an effort to impose a strict religion-based system of rule.

The Taliban leadership has consistently rejected this.