By Sayed Hassib
KABUL/ KARACHI, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Pakistani and Afghan forces exchanged fire along their border on Tuesday, with each side accusing the other of initiating the clash, days after Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan strained already tenuous ties.
The incident marks the latest flare-up along the 2,600-km (1,615-mile) border, where tensions have risen since Pakistan’s strikes on Saturday and Sunday and threaten a fragile ceasefire following deadly clashes in October.
Mosharraf Zaidi, spokesperson for Pakistan’s prime minister, told Reuters the Afghan Taliban authorities had initiated “unprovoked firing” in the Torkham and Tirah sub-sectors along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
“Pakistan’s security forces responded immediately and effectively, silencing the Taliban aggression,” Zaidi said, warning that any further provocation would be met “immediately and severely.”
Afghan officials gave a different account, saying Pakistani forces opened fire and that Afghan troops responded.
Zabihullah Noorani, director of information and culture for Nangarhar province, said the incident took place in the Shahkot area of Nazyan district and that the fighting has since stopped with no Afghan casualties.
Separately, Mawlawi Wahidullah, spokesperson for an Afghan army corps responsible for security in eastern Afghanistan, said border forces were on patrol near the Durand Line in Achin and Durbaba districts when they came under fire, adding that the exchange was not retaliatory but a response to incoming fire.
Islamabad said Pakistani airstrikes on the weekend targeted camps of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State Khorasan Province in eastern Afghanistan, with security sources putting the militant death toll at 70.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said it had received “credible reports” that at least 13 civilians were killed and seven injured in Nangarhar. Taliban officials put the toll higher. Reuters could not independently verify the figures.
Pakistan says TTP leaders operate from Afghan territory, a charge Kabul denies.
(Reporting by Sayed Hassib in Kabul and Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Editing by Rod Nickel)
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