The Taliban authorities confirmed that it attacked Pakistani troops in a number of mountainous areas on the northern border.
Casualties aren’t but clear in what the Taliban authorities known as “retaliatory operations”, after it claimed Pakistan had violated Afghan airspace and bombed a market inside its border on Thursday.
Pakistan’s Inside Minister Mohsin Naqvi stated the Afghan assaults had been “unprovoked” and civilians had been fired at, warning that his nation’s forces would reply “with a stone for each brick”.
Islamabad has accused Kabul of harbouring terrorists who goal Pakistan on its soil, a declare the Taliban authorities rejected.
Each the Afghan and Pakistani sides are stated to have used small arms and artillery within the Kunar-Kurram area, the BBC understands.
Saying that he “strongly condemns” the Taliban’s assaults, Naqvi acknowledged: “The firing by Afghan forces on civilian populations is a blatant violation of worldwide legal guidelines.
“Afghanistan is taking part in a recreation of fireplace and blood,” he stated in a put up on X.
A Pakistani army spokesman stated they’d take needed measures to safeguard Pakistani lives and properties.
Pakistan’s army has not formally commented, however a safety supply talking to the BBC claimed that firing passed off at a number of areas alongside the Pakistani-Afghan border, together with Angoor Adda, Bajaur, Kurram, Dir, Chitral and Baramcha.
A police official stationed close to the Zero Level in Kurram district instructed the BBC that heavy weapons fireplace started from the Afghan facet round 22:00 native time (17:00 GMT).
He stated that they had obtained stories of intense gunfire from a number of areas alongside the border.
Final week, Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of violating Kabul’s “sovereign territory”, as two loud blasts had been heard within the metropolis late on Thursday.
Pakistan bombed a civilian market within the border province of Paktika, in Afghanistan’s south-east, the Taliban Defence Ministry stated on Friday. Locals there instructed the BBC’s Afghan service that numerous retailers had been destroyed.
A prime Pakistani basic alleged Afghanistan was getting used as a “base of operation for terrorism in opposition to Pakistan”.
Pakistan has lengthy accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing the Pakistan Taliban, referred to as the TTP, to function from their land and struggle in opposition to the Islamabad authorities in a bid to implement a strict Islamic-led system of governance.
The Taliban authorities has all the time denied this.
The most recent escalation coincided with an historic week-long trip to India made by Afghan Taliban International Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, his first because the Taliban’s return to energy.
In a diplomatic thaw, Delhi stated that it might reopen the embassy in Kabul, which was shut 4 years in the past when the Taliban returned to energy.
“Afghanistan may also be given a befitting reply like India, so that it’s going to not dare to take a look at Pakistan with a malicious eye,” Naqvi warned.
In a press release, Saudi Arabia, which signed a mutual defence pact with Pakistan final month, known as for self-restraint and avoidance of escalation between Islamabad and Kabul.
Qatar additionally expressed concern over the Pakistan-Afghanistan border tensions, calling on each side to “prioritise dialogue, diplomacy, and restraint”.
