PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Afghan security forces attacked Pakistani border posts late Saturday in response to what the Taliban government called repeated violations of its territory and airspace, underscoring deepening security tensions between the neighbors. Afghan state-run media said over a dozen Pakistani soldiers were killed, but there was no immediate confirmation from Islamabad.
Earlier in the week, Afghan authorities accused Pakistan of bombing the capital, Kabul, and a market in the country’s east. Pakistan did not claim responsibility for the assault.
The Taliban government’s Defense Ministry said early Sunday morning its forces had conducted “retaliatory and successful operations” along the border.
“If the opposing side again violates Afghanistan’s territorial integrity, our armed forces are fully prepared to defend the nation’s borders and will deliver a strong response,” the ministry added. State-run media, RTA, said the “revenge operation” had captured three Pakistani military posts, resulting in the deaths of 15 soldiers in an area bordering southern Helmand province.
The Torkham border crossing, one of two main trade routes between the two countries, did not open on Sunday at its usual time of 8 am.
Pakistan accuses Afghan authorities of harboring members of the banned group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Islamabad says the group carries out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, but Kabul denies the charge, saying it does not allow its territory to be used against other countries.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned Afghanistan for the Saturday night gunfire, warning it would be given a “befitting reply like India,” a reference to a crisis earlier this year that saw the two nuclear-armed rivals step closer to war.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry expressed concern over the escalations and the potential repercussions for the security and stability of the region. It urged both sides to prioritize “dialogue, diplomacy and restraint.”
A senior Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said Afghan forces opened fire in several northwestern border areas in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including the districts of Chitral, Bajaur, Mohmand, Angoor Adda and Kurram.
The official also said troops responded with heavy weaponry near Tirah in Khyber district and across the frontier in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.
A second Pakistani security official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said at least one person was killed and another wounded when a mortar shell fired from the Afghan side landed in Tiri village, Kurram district.
The two countries share a 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border known as the Durand Line, but Afghanistan has never recognized it.
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Associated Press writer Sajjad Tarakzai contributed to this report from Islamabad.
By RIAZ KHAN
Associated Press
