Fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan resumes after temporary ceasefire expires

(Patria) - Fighting along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border resumed on Wednesday after a temporary ceasefire expired, killing at least two civilians and wounding others in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan Taliban officials said, AP reported.

The brief truce was announced by the two sides ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

Ziaur Rahman Speenghar, director of the information and culture department in Afghanistan's Kunar province, said Pakistani forces fired dozens of artillery shells into the Narai and Sarkano districts, killing two civilians and wounding eight others after the ceasefire expired.

Afghan border forces returned fire, he said, claiming they destroyed three Pakistani military positions and killed one person. His claims could not be independently verified. There was no immediate comment from the Pakistani military. However, a local Pakistani official in the northwest accused Afghan forces of starting the exchange of fire in several areas.

The latest violence comes about a week after both sides agreed to halt hostilities following Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan at the request of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar. The pause followed Pakistani strikes that the Afghan Taliban government said hit a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, killing more than 400 people. That figure could not be independently confirmed.

Pakistan denied targeting civilians, saying it struck an ammunition depot.

Separately, the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), said they resumed attacks in Pakistan after observing their own three-day ceasefire for Eid.

The TTP, which is separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban, has stepped up attacks inside Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021.

The United States and the United Nations have designated the TTP as a terrorist organization.

Pakistan accuses Kabul of harboring TTP leaders and thousands of members who carry out cross-border attacks.

Kabul denies the allegations, and Pakistan has vowed to continue targeting the TTP and its supporters inside Afghanistan until the Afghan Taliban government convinces them they will not allow the TTP and other militants to use Afghan soil for attacks.