Afghanistan's Taliban forces have launched attacks on Pakistani soldiers along the nations' border, accusing its neighbour of carrying out air strikes on its soil, according to senior officials from several provinces.
The Taliban forces said they captured three Pakistani border posts, while Pakistani security officials said their military had destroyed several Afghan posts.
Taliban officials from several provinces located on the border confirmed on Saturday that clashes were ongoing.
Pakistani security officials said they were responding "with full force" to what they called unprovoked firing from Afghanistan.
The exchange of fire took place at more than six locations along the border, they said.
"This evening, Taliban forces began using weapons. We fired first light and then heavy artillery at four points along the border," a senior official in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan, told news wire agency AFP.
"Pakistani forces responded with heavy fire and shot down three Afghan quadcopters suspected of carrying explosives.
"Intense fighting continues, but so far, no casualties have been reported."
On Thursday, two explosions were heard in the Afghan capital Kabul and another in the south-east of the country.
The following day, the Taliban-run defence ministry blamed the attacks on Pakistan, accusing its neighbour of violating its sovereignty.
"In retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul", Taliban forces were engaged "in heavy clashes against Pakistani security forces in various areas" along the border, the Afghan military said in a statement.
Later, Taliban defence ministry spokesperson Enayat Khowarazm told AFP the "successful" operations had ended at midnight.
"If the opposing side violates Afghanistan's territory again, our armed forces are ready to defend their territory and will respond firmly," he said.
Pakistan's government did not confirm that it was behind Thursday's attacks, but called on Kabul "to stop harbouring the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) on its soil".
The TTP, trained in combat in Afghanistan and claiming to share the same ideology as the Afghan Taliban, is accused by Pakistan of having killed hundreds of its soldiers since 2021.
Increase in violence along border
In recent months, TTP militants have intensified their campaign of violence against Pakistani security forces in the mountainous areas bordering Afghanistan.
Pakistan's government accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants who use Afghan territory to launch attacks on its neighbour, an accusation denied by authorities in Kabul.
The TTP and its affiliates are behind most of the violence — largely directed at security forces.
Earlier this year, a United Nations report said the TTP "received substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities", referring to the Taliban government in Kabul.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told the nation's parliament on Thursday that several efforts to convince the Afghan Taliban to stop backing the TTP had failed.
"We will not tolerate this any longer," Mr Asif said.
"United, we must respond to those facilitating them, whether the hideouts are on our soil or Afghan soil."
Earlier on Saturday, the TTP claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several districts in north-west Pakistan that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.
AFP/Reuters
