Umer Draz Nangiana,
Maia DaviesAnd
Azizullah Khan
Pakistan launched strikes on the Afghan cities of Kabul and Kandahar early Friday, according to Pakistani government officials.
A spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban told X that they had responded with further attacks on Pakistani troops along their shared border – although the post has now been deleted.
Pakistani authorities said their “counterattacks” on Afghan cities were a response to “unprovoked Afghan attacks” – although the Afghan Taliban said they were a response to earlier Pakistani strikes.
The two countries agreed to a fragile ceasefire in October after deadly cross-border clashes, but fighting has resumed in recent days.
Residents of Kabul heard loud explosions across the city on Friday, AFP reported.
Both sides claim to have inflicted heavy losses on each other during recent clashes. Residents in Pakistan’s border areas told the BBC they heard explosions and were asked to run to safety.
Pakistan earlier said that two of its soldiers were killed after the Afghan Taliban launched an operation against military positions along their shared border on Thursday evening.
Three other people were injured when Pakistani forces responded to “unprovoked firing”, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said.
The Afghan Taliban said it launched the “large-scale” operation in response to strikes earlier this week, which it said killed at least 18 people. Islamabad said it targeted camps and hideouts of suspected militants.
Taliban military spokesman Mawlawi Wahidullah Mohammadi said the “retaliatory operation” was launched around 8:00 p.m. local time (15:30 GMT) on Thursday.
The group’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the offensive had killed “many” Pakistani soldiers and captured others.
This was denied by a spokesperson for the Pakistani prime minister, who also disputed Mujahid’s claim that 15 military posts had been captured.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesman Mosharraf Zaidi rejected claims of damage from the Pakistani side and said any aggression would be met with an “immediate and effective” response.
Mujahid wrote on
The Pakistani government said the Taliban had “miscalculated and opened unprovoked fire at several locations” across the border in the country’s northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, prompting an “immediate and effective response” from Islamabad’s security forces.
“Early reports confirm heavy losses on [the] Afghan side with several posts and equipment destroyed,” indicates a press release from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shared on X.
“Pakistan will take all necessary measures to ensure its territorial integrity and the safety and security of its citizens.”
Residents reported hearing heavy gunfire along the border. People living near the Pakistani border town of Torkham have been asked to leave the area.
Authorities have suspended the repatriation of Afghan nationals expelled across the border into the city due to the clashes. The crossing was also closed to Afghan refugees.
Islamabad said it had targeted seven suspected militant camps and hideouts near the border and that they were launched after recent suicide attacks in Pakistan.
Kabul, meanwhile, said civilian homes and a religious school had been targeted, leaving women and children among the dead.
Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 1,600-mile (2,574 km) mountainous border.