SPIN BOLDAK: Dozens of troops and civilians died in fresh border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday before both sides agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry announced the truce following a week of violence that escalated after explosions in Kabul and other Afghan locations blamed on Pakistan.
The Taliban government in Kabul launched an offensive along sections of its southern border in retaliation, prompting Islamabad to pledge a strong response.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of sheltering militant groups led by the Pakistani Taliban, which Kabul denies.
Plumes of black smoke rose above Kabul following two evening explosions in the Afghan capital, according to AFP reporters.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated an oil tanker and a generator had exploded, causing fires without explicitly linking the blasts to the clashes with Pakistan.
A Pakistani security source told AFP that Islamabad had conducted precision strikes in the Afghan capital.
Ambulances rushed through Kabul streets littered with shattered glass from damaged buildings while Taliban forces blocked off several city streets.
Islamabad announced the ceasefire barely an hour later, with Taliban authorities in Kabul ordering their army to respect it.
Pakistan’s military earlier accused the Afghan Taliban of attacking two major border posts in the country’s southwest and northwest.
The military stated both assaults were repelled with approximately 20 Taliban fighters killed in attacks launched near Spin Boldak on the Afghan side of the frontier in southern Kandahar province early Wednesday.
Pakistan’s military emphasized the attack was orchestrated through divided villages in the area with no regard for the civilian population.
The military also indicated about 30 more fighters were believed killed in overnight clashes along Pakistan’s northwest border.
The Afghan Taliban reported 15 civilians killed and dozens wounded in the clashes near Spin Boldak along with two to three of its fighters.
Taliban spokesman Mujahid claimed in an earlier statement that 100 civilians were wounded around Spin Boldak, adding that calm returned after Pakistani soldiers were killed and weapons seized.
Pakistan’s military dismissed these claims as outrageous and blatant lies.
Pakistan did not provide casualty figures for its losses in the latest clashes but reported last week that 23 of its troops had died in the initial skirmishes.
Sadiq, a Spin Boldak resident who gave only his first name, said fighting began around 4:00 am local time.
He reported houses were fired upon including his cousin’s, where his cousin’s son and wife were killed and four children wounded.
All businesses in the area closed and many residents fled according to an AFP correspondent. In Chaman on the Pakistani side of the border, one resident described the pre-dawn clashes as total chaos.
Raaz Muhammad, 51, told AFP by phone that children and women were terrified and began screaming. In a separate incident, a senior security official in Peshawar in Pakistan’s northwest said seven frontier troops were killed in a checkpoint attack.
The relatively new Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen armed group claimed responsibility for that attack.
Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament last week that several attempts to persuade the Afghan Taliban to stop supporting the TTP had failed.
Islamabad accuses the TTP, which was combat-trained in Afghanistan and shares the Taliban’s ideology, of killing hundreds of Pakistani soldiers since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
Clashes erupted on Saturday evening when Kabul launched an operation in at least five provinces along the border two days after the initial blasts.
The Taliban government stated it attacked Pakistani security forces in retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul.
Islamabad then vowed a forceful response on Sunday, with dozens of casualties reported on both sides. – AFP
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