Pakistan-Afghanistan border tensions rise after overnight shelling (Img: X)
Tensions along Afghanistan border has intensified again as Pakistan accused Taliban forces of shelling Pakistani border posts overnight following an alleged attempt by militants to cross into Pakistan. Kabul, however, denied carrying out any attack.
The latest standoff comes days after Pakistani fighter jets struck targets in eastern Afghanistan, which Islamabad described as militant hideouts. The renewed violence has raised concerns about mediation efforts by China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia aimed at easing tensions between Kabul and Islamabad.
Four Pakistani officials said on Wednesday that militants had attempted to enter Pakistan from areas near Afghan border posts in Paktia and Nangarhar provinces. They alleged that the fighters received support from Afghan Taliban forces.
The officials referred to the militants as Fitna-ul-Khawarij, a term Islamabad uses for the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban.
According to the officials, Afghan Taliban forces used mortars and other heavy weapons against Pakistani border posts after Pakistani troops prevented the alleged infiltration. Pakistani forces then responded with artillery fire targeting Taliban border posts, mortar positions and defensive locations.
The latest exchange follows several weeks of relative calm after months of cross-border hostilities. Earlier this month, Pakistani security forces said they had killed 15 militants attempting to cross from Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s Information Ministry said 28 militants were killed in Monday’s airstrikes. Afghan authorities said at least three civilians were killed and four injured. The UN mission in Afghanistan confirmed the civilian casualties, while Kabul formally protested the strikes.
At the UN General Assembly in New York, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar also raised concerns over what he described as the presence of more than two dozen anti-Pakistani militant groups in Afghanistan.
The airstrikes followed a deadly shootout in Hangu, where six Pakistani security personnel were killed. Days earlier, a suicide bombing at a mosque inside a police compound in nearby Kohat was followed by a 20-hour gunbattle that killed at least 21 people, most of them police officers.
Pakistani authorities blamed the violence on the TTP and allied groups. The latest border confrontation has further strained ties between Kabul and Islamabad.
