BBC: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pakistan launched strikes on the Afghan cities of Kabul and Kandahar in the early hours of Friday, according to Pakistani government officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban said on X that it had responded with renewed attacks against Pakistani troops along their shared border – though the post has now been deleted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pakistani authorities said that their “counter strikes” on the Afghan cities were a response to “unprovoked Afghan attacks” – though the Afghan Taliban said those were in response to earlier Pakistani strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two countries agreed a fragile ceasefire in October after deadly cross-border clashes, but fighting has flared once again in recent days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Residents in Kabul heard loud blasts across the city on Friday, AFP reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both sides claim to have inflicted heavy losses on each other during recent clashes. People in Pakistan’s border regions told the BBC they had heard explosions and were asked to move to safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pakistan earlier said thattwo of its soldiers have been killed after the Afghan Taliban launched an operation against military positions along their shared border late on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three others were injured as Pakistani forces responded to the “unprovoked fire”, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Afghan Taliban said it had launched the “large-scale” operation in response to strikes earlier this week, which it claimed had killed at least 18 people. Islamabad said it had targeted alleged militant camps and hideouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taliban military spokesman Mawlawi Wahidullah Mohammadi said the “retaliatory operation” had been launched at around 20:00 local time (15:30 GMT) on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group’s chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the offensive had killed “numerous” Pakistani soldiers and captured others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This was denied by a spokesman for Pakistan’s prime minister, who also contested Mujahid’s claim that 15 military posts had been captured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesman Mosharraf Zaidi dismissed claims of damage on the Pakistani side and said all aggression would receive an “immediate and effective” response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mujahid wrote on X that “in response to repeated border violations and insurgency by Pakistani military circles, large-scale preemptive operations were launched against Pakistani army centres and military installations” along the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pakistan’s government said the Taliban had “miscalculated and opened unprovoked fire on multiple locations” across the border in its north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which had been met with an “immediate and effective response” by Islamabad’s security forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Early reports confirm heavy casualties on[the] Afghan side with multiple posts and equipment destroyed,” said a Ministry of Information & Broadcasting statement shared on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Pakistan will take all necessary measures to ensure its territorial integrity and the safety and security of its citizens.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Residents reported hearing a heavy exchange of fire along the border. Those living near Pakistan’s border town of Torkham were asked to vacate the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials suspended the repatriation of deported Afghan nationals back over the border in the town due to the clashes. The crossing was also closed to Afghan refugees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BBC: Pakistan launched strikes on the Afghan cities of Kabul and Kandahar in the early hours of Friday, according to Pakistani government officials. A spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban said on X that it had responded with renewed attacks against Pakistani troops along their shared border – though the post has now been deleted. Pakistani authorities said that their “counter strikes” on the Afghan cities were a response to “unprovoked Afghan attacks” – though the Afghan Taliban said those were in response to earlier Pakistani strikes. The two countries agreed a fragile ceasefire in October after deadly cross-border clashes, but… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55034,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55032\/revisions\/55034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}