Further fighting erupted along the Afghan-Pakistan border late on Sunday after a temporary ceasefire expired, killing at least two civilians, Afghan Taliban officials said, as quoted by the Associated Press.
The brief ceasefire was announced by both sides ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Ziaur Rahman Spiengar, director of the Information and Culture Department in Afghanistan's Kunar province, said Pakistani forces fired dozens of artillery shells into the Narai and Sarkan districts, killing two civilians and wounding eight others after the ceasefire expired.
Afghan forces returned fire, he said, and said they destroyed three Pakistani military posts and killed one person. His claims could not be independently verified and there was no immediate comment from the Pakistani military, the AP noted. However, a local Pakistani official in the northwest of the country accused Afghan forces of starting the fighting in several areas.
About a week ago, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire that had erupted after Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan, at the request of Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.
The ceasefire followed Pakistani strikes that the Afghan Taliban government said hit a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, killing more than 400 people. The death toll could not be independently confirmed, the AP said.
Pakistan denied targeting civilians, saying it had hit an ammunition depot.
Separately, the Pakistani Taliban said they had resumed attacks in Pakistan after a three-day ceasefire they had declared for the Eid holiday expired.
The Pakistani Taliban is a separate organization from the Afghan Taliban, but is allied with them. They have stepped up attacks in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. Pakistan accuses Kabul of harboring Pakistani Taliban leaders and their fighters who carry out cross-border attacks. Kabul denies the accusation.