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Clashes erupt again on Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Taliban says 4 civilians dead
At the Pakistani border town of Chaman, the local hospital said three people had been discharged after suffering minor injuries during the clash.
Clashes on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border erupted again early on Saturday, with each side accusing the other of launching an “unprovoked attack.”
The Taliban governor of Afghanistan's border district of Spin Boldak said on Saturday that an overnight exchange of fire at a main Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing killed four civilians, in the latest flare-up of fighting between the two countries.
At the Pakistani border town of Chaman, the local hospital said three people had been discharged after suffering minor injuries during the clash.
While Pakistani officials said that Afghan forces had fired mortar shells on the Badani area, Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed it was Pakistan that launched an attack on Spin Boldak, alleging that their forces were responding.
Pakistan's official sources, quoted in a Dawn report, claimed that Pakistani forces retaliated against the Afghan aggression and returned fire.
News agency AFP reported artillery fire and explosions on the Pakistani side of the border.
The core of the clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated in recent times. Security issues are at the heart of the controversy, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of harbouring militant groups, particularly the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), that launch attacks in Pakistan. The Taliban government denies these allegations.
Clashes in October saw more than 70 people killed and hundreds wounded
The two countries had agreed on a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey following tensions, but several rounds of talks in Doha and Istanbul have failed to produce a lasting deal.
Kabul last month accused its neighbour of air strikes in a border area that killed 10 people, nine of them children. Islamabad denied the claim.,
The Pakistan Foreign Office said last month that technically there was no truce as it was contingent on the Afghan Taliban stopping terrorist attacks in Pakistan, which they had failed to do.
