The Afghan Taliban confirms that it has launched “retaliatory” border attacks on Pakistan

The Taliban government confirmed that it attacked Pakistani forces in multiple mountainous locations on the northern border.

The number of casualties is not yet clear in what the Taliban described as “retaliatory operations” after it said Pakistan violated Afghan airspace and bombed a market within its borders on Thursday.

Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi described the Taliban attacks as “unjustified” and accused them of shooting civilians. He warned that Pakistani forces would respond “with a stone for every brick.”

Islamabad accuses Kabul of harboring terrorists targeting Pakistan on its soil, which the Taliban rejects. The escalation came while the Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister was in India on a historic visit.

Both sides are said to have used small arms and artillery in the Kunar-Karam region, the BBC has learned.

Naqvi said he “strongly condemns” the Taliban attacks, adding that “Afghan forces’ firing on the civilian population is a flagrant violation of international laws.”

“Afghanistan is playing a game of fire and blood,” he said in a post on the X website.

A Pakistani army spokesman said that they would take necessary measures to protect the lives and property of Pakistanis.

The Pakistani army did not officially comment, but a security source told the BBC that the shooting took place in several locations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, including Anjoor Adda, Bajaur, Kurram, Dir, Chitral and Baramsha.

A police official stationed near Ground Zero in Kurram District told the BBC that heavy weapons firing began from the Afghan side at around 22:00 local time (17:00 GMT).

He said they received reports of heavy gunfire from multiple locations along the border.

Last week in Afghanistan The Taliban government accused Pakistan of violating Kabul’s “sovereign territory.”Two powerful explosions were heard in the city late Thursday.

The Taliban Defense Ministry said on Friday that Pakistan bombed a civilian market in the border province of Paktika in southeastern Afghanistan. Local residents told the BBC’s Afghan Service that a number of shops were destroyed.

A senior Pakistani general claimed that Afghanistan is being used as a “base of operations for terrorism against Pakistan.”

Pakistan has long accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing the Pakistani Taliban, known as TTP, to operate from its territory and fight against the Islamabad government in an attempt to impose a strict, Islamist-led regime.

The Taliban government has always denied this.

The latest escalation came from the Foreign Minister of the Afghan Taliban movement Amir Khan Muttaqi was in India For a week’s visit. Amid a diplomatic thaw, New Delhi said it would reopen its embassy in Kabul, which was closed four years ago when the Taliban returned to power.

“Afghanistan will also receive a befitting response like India, so that it does not dare to look at Pakistan with malicious eyes,” Naqvi warned.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said, in a statement, that it had signed Mutual Defense Agreement Last month, the United States and Pakistan called for restraint and avoidance of escalation between Islamabad and Kabul.

Qatar also issued a statement expressing its concern about border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan and said that it “urges both sides to give priority to dialogue, diplomacy and restraint.”