At least six people, including five civilians, were killed Sunday in fresh clashes between the Taliban and the Pakistan Army in the town of Spin Boldak, located on the common border, amid tensions in recent months in the area.
Hayi Zaid, a spokesman for the governor of the Afghan province of Kandahar, said in statements to the Afghan television channel Tolo TV that one Taliban was killed and ten were wounded in the clashes, which resulted in the wounding of a Pakistani soldier. Five civilians were also killed and 20 others wounded.
The Pakistani Army has alleged that the Taliban used heavy weapons, such as artillery and mortars, in the clash.
«Pakistani border troops have given an appropriate, albeit measured, response against the aggression, but avoided targeting innocent civilians in the area,» according to a statement carried by ‘Dawn’.
Pakistani authorities have denounced to the Taliban regime the «seriousness» of what happened and demanded «strict measures to prevent the incident from recurring in the future.»
For the moment there are no details about the causes of the clashes, which take place after a Pakistani military man was killed in November in an exchange of fire at the border crossing, which led to its closure for more than a week.
It also comes days after an attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul and after the armed group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), known as the Pakistani Taliban, announced the end of a truce announced as part of a series of contacts with Islamabad that were mediated by the Afghan Taliban.
Afghan and Pakistani authorities agreed in January to form a joint ministerial committee to resolve disputes over the 2,640-kilometer Durand Line, which marks the border between the two countries.
The Durand Line was established in 1893 following an agreement between the then British Foreign Secretary in India, Mortimer Durand, and Afghan Amir Abdur Rahman Khan to delimit spheres of influence.
Following Pakistan’s independence, Islamabad came to recognize it as its border with Afghanistan, although Kabul took no such step. This line divides the Pashtun and Baloch communities living on both sides of the border, which has led to disputes in both countries.
