Pakistan says repulses Afghan Taliban's attack, Afghanistan claims fresh fighting kills 12 civilians

ISLAMABAD/KABUL -- The Pakistani military said on Wednesday that Pakistani security forces repulsed an attack by the Afghan Taliban in the country's southwest Balochistan province. On the same day, an Afghan government spokesman said fresh fighting between Afghan and Pakistani troops killed 12 civilians and wounded over 100 others.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a statement that the Afghan Taliban resorted to an attack at four locations in the Spin Boldak area of Balochistan, which was repulsed by the security forces, noting that 15 to 20 Afghan Taliban members have been killed.

The Afghan Taliban also destroyed the Pakistan-Afghanistan Friendship Gate, the ISPR said.

On Tuesday night, the terrorists from Afghanistan also tried to attack Pakistani border posts in the Kurram sector in the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the ISPR said.

These attacks were effectively repulsed. Eight Afghan posts and six Afghan tanks were destroyed, and 25 to 30 terrorists and Afghan Taliban members were killed, it said.

Fresh fighting between Afghan and Pakistani troops along the border in the border town of Spin Boldak in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar killed 12 civilians on Wednesday, Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

"Unfortunately, Pakistan's unprovoked firing martyred 12 civilians, wounded over 100 in Spin Boldak this morning," Mujahid said in a statement posted on his X account.

Afghan forces were forced to respond, Mujahid said, adding that during the retaliatory actions, several Pakistani troopers had been killed, their posts and weapons had been captured. The conflict has been controlled by the Afghan side, he said.

Tensions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border have risen recently following cross-border firing and militant activity.

Earlier, the Afghan forces launched retaliatory operations on Saturday night to respond to the reported Pakistan airstrikes on Kabul and the eastern Paktika province on Thursday night.

The Pakistan military reaffirmed the armed forces' resolution to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan, saying all acts of aggression against Pakistan will be responded to with full force.