Taliban say three civilians killed in Torkham border clash

Taliban authorities accused Pakistani forces on Tuesday of killing three civilians -- a woman and two children -- in clashes along their northern border.

The latest exchange of fire took place on Monday near the Torkham border crossing in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, with each side accusing the other of sparking the clash.

Pakistan and Afghanistan forces regularly exchange fire, often sparked by disagreements over construction near the Durand line, a 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) frontier drawn by the British in 1896 and disputed by Kabul.

"Pakistani forces targeted civilian houses and killed a woman and two children," said interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani in a post on social media site X early Tuesday.

Enayatullah Khwarazmi, the spokesman for Afghanistan's defence ministry, told AFP, "The clash was started by the Pakistanis".

"When our forces were trying to build a post along the imaginary (Durand) line, the Pakistani soldiers fired at our forces and our forces retaliated, which led to a clash."

A border official on the Pakistan side at Torkham said three Pakistani soldiers were wounded in the exchange. "Despite repeated warnings and objections from the Pakistani side, Afghan officials did not halt the construction, leading to escalating tensions," the officer told AFP.

Pakistan officials have not responded to accusations that three Afghan civilians were killed.

Border tensions between the two countries have steadily escalated since the Taliban government seized power in 2021, with Islamabad claiming militant groups are carrying out regular attacks from Afghanistan.

The Taliban government deny harbouring Pakistani militants, but are also infuriated by a fence Islamabad is erecting along the Durand line.

The Pakistan official added that heavy weapons had been used by both sides, and that the Torkham border crossing was closed.