Fresh hostilities erupted along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border early on Wednesday, with both parties blaming the opposing side of initiating lethal confrontations.
Pakistan's military announced that its forces had eliminated "fifteen to twenty Taliban fighters" and injured numerous others in the Spin Boldak border district.
A Afghan authorities spokesman said that 12 Afghan civilians had been fatally struck and more than 100 wounded by Pakistani firing. He further stated that numerous military personnel had been lost their lives. None of the alleged fatalities could be verified by third parties.
Hostilities between the neighbors has flared since explosions shook Afghanistan recently, which the Afghan capital blamed on Pakistan. The Taliban deny allegations that it is sheltering militants aiming at Pakistan.
The two sides are not only fighting for the upper hand on the border, but also on social media, trying to persuade the general population that their faction is causing greater losses.
The latest clashes follow severe cross-border confrontations over the weekend, when the Taliban claimed to have eliminated fifty-eight members of the Islamabad's armed forces and Islamabad reported it neutralized 200 "militants and linked insurgents". The reported death tolls announced by both parties could not be confirmed by external sources.
A few days of unstable peace that had lasted since the recent days were broken on Wednesday morning.
Videos allegedly of the conflict and its aftermath have been circulated online and on social channels, including images claiming to be of those killed and grainy shots from night vision cameras claiming to be of check posts demolished. These recordings have not been verified.
A informant in Spin Boldak in Afghanistan reported that fighting broke out at around 4 a.m. local time (11:30 p.m. GMT on the previous day). Another local in the district, who lives about one kilometre away from the border crossing, said that "intense clashes continued for almost several hours".
"I see unmanned aircraft and jets soaring over us, a number of our relatives are injured," they added.
A medical professional in one of the medical facilities in the region stated that he counted "seven fatalities and thirty-six wounded brought to the medical center", including men, females and children.
The situation were "tense" and more victims were being transferred to medical care, he said.
A regional Taliban official in Spin Boldak announced that "numerous of households have been forced to flee since the previous evening due to the heavy fighting". He said they were on "high alert" after a several military positions were attacked by Pakistani jets. He further indicated that they had the bodies of two Pakistani military members.
In a distinct overnight clash on the north-western border, the Islamabad's forces claimed that twenty-five to thirty militant and local insurgent fighters were "believed" to have been killed.
The hostilities have prompted appeals for reduced tensions from other countries including China and Russia, as well as a suggestion from US President Donald Trump that he could step in to facilitate peace.
On that day, Richard Bennett, UN special rapporteur on the conditions of human rights in Afghanistan, posted on a social media platform that he was "very worried" by accounts of non-combatant deaths and displacement because of the clashes.
"I call on everyone involved to exercise the utmost caution, safeguard non-combatants, and follow international law," he wrote.
Islamabad has long accused the Taliban authorities of allowing the Pakistani militants to function from their territory and fight against the Pakistani administration in an attempt to impose a strict Islamic-led system of rule.
The Afghan Taliban government has always denied this.
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