Afghan Taliban and Pakistani Forces Claim Numerous Fatalities in Fresh Cross-Border Clashes
New fighting broke out along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier early on Wednesday, with each side accusing the other of initiating lethal confrontations.
Pakistan's military announced that its forces had killed "15-20 Taliban fighters" and wounded many in the Spin Boldak frontier area.
A Taliban government spokesman said that 12 Afghan civilians had been killed and more than 100 injured by Pakistani firing. He added that numerous Pakistani soldiers had been killed. Not one of the alleged deaths could be verified by third parties.
Hostilities between the neighbouring countries has escalated since explosions shook Afghanistan recently, which the Afghan capital blamed on Islamabad. The Taliban reject allegations that it is sheltering armed groups targeting Pakistan.
Online Platforms and Military Engagements
The opposing forces are not only fighting for the advantage on the border, but also on social media, trying to convince the public that their side is inflicting greater losses.
The latest fighting follow intense cross-border hostilities over the past few days, when the Afghan forces claimed to have eliminated fifty-eight members of the Islamabad's armed forces and Pakistan reported it killed two hundred "militants and affiliated insurgents". The claimed casualty figures announced by each side could not be confirmed by external sources.
Several days of unstable peace that had persisted since the recent days were broken on Wednesday.
Local Reports and Consequences
Footage allegedly of the fighting and its aftereffects have been circulated online and on social channels, including footage said to be of those deceased and grainy shots from night vision cameras claiming to be of check posts destroyed. These videos have not been authenticated.
A source in Spin Boldak in Afghanistan reported that fighting erupted at around 04:00 local time (23:30 GMT on the previous day). Another resident in Spin Boldak, who lives about one kilometre away from the frontier post, reported that "very heavy hostilities persisted for almost five hours".
"We observed drones and jets flying over us, a number of our family members are injured," they added.
A doctor in one of the hospitals in Spin Boldak reported that he tallied "seven bodies and thirty-six injured transported to the hospital", including males, women and minors.
The situation were "tense" and more casualties were being taken to hospital, he said.
Evacuations and International Reactions
A regional Taliban official in the area announced that "hundreds of families have been displaced since the previous evening due to the intense fighting". He said they were on "maximum readiness" after a several military positions were attacked by Pakistani jets. He further indicated that they had the remains of 2 Pakistani military members.
In a separate overnight engagement on the north-western frontier, the Islamabad's forces said that twenty-five to thirty militant and local insurgent fighters were "believed" to have been killed.
The hostilities have prompted appeals for de-escalation from other countries including China and Russia, as well as a suggestion from US President Donald Trump that he could step in to broker peace.
On Wednesday, Richard Bennett, UN special rapporteur on the conditions of civil liberties in Afghanistan, wrote on a social media platform that he was "very worried" by accounts of non-combatant deaths and displacement because of the clashes.
"I call on everyone involved to practice the utmost caution, safeguard non-combatants, and abide by international law," he wrote.
Long-Standing Disputes
Pakistan has long alleged the Afghan Taliban of allowing the Pakistani militants to function from their territory and battle against the Pakistani administration in an attempt to enforce a rigid religion-based system of rule.
The Afghan Taliban government has consistently rejected these allegations.
