Pakistan and Afghanistan held the first round of peace talks on Wednesday, with China mediating to reach a lasting ceasefire after weeks of fighting, the AP reported.
But even as the talks were underway, Afghanistan accused Pakistan of firing mortars into its territory.
Representatives from the two countries met in Urumqi, in northern China, the officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The first round of talks ended Wednesday afternoon and are expected to continue Thursday, they said.
China has not commented. Pakistan's foreign ministry neither confirmed nor denied the talks.
An Afghan official said the five-member Afghan delegation in Urumqi consisted of two representatives from the foreign ministry and one each from the defense and interior ministries, as well as the country's intelligence agency. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose details to the press.
The talks in Urumqi are being seen as a potential relief for millions of people in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, Pakistani sources said, adding that they could last for days and are just the beginning of a peace process between the two countries.
Farid Dehqan, a police spokesman in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar province, said Pakistan fired mortars into Afghan territory late Wednesday, killing two civilians and wounding six others, including four children. He said the shelling continued for two hours after it began.
The Pakistani military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The latest round of talks, the sources said, began after both sides accepted China's offer to mediate a ceasefire. The two sides will continue their talks on Thursday.
China has been urging the two sides to resume dialogue since late February, and its special envoy Yu Xiaoyun met his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Sadiq last month after a visit to Kabul.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of providing safe haven for militants who carry out attacks in Pakistan, particularly the Pakistani Taliban. The group is separate but allied with the Afghan Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in 2021 after the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops. Kabul denies the accusation.
Pakistan's former special envoy for Afghanistan, Asif Durrani, expressed hope that the talks, if officially confirmed, would lead to substantial progress.
"If the two sides reach an agreement as a result of the reported talks, the critical issue will be a verification mechanism to ensure that Afghan territory is not used for attacks on Pakistan," he said.
The fighting since February has been the most intense in decades. Shortly after the clashes began, Pakistan declared itself in "open war" with Afghanistan, with repeated cross-border clashes as well as airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including several in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
Afghanistan said a Pakistani airstrike last month hit a drug treatment center in Kabul, killing more than 400 people. The death toll could not be independently confirmed. Pakistan disputed the claim and denied that civilians were targeted, saying it had hit an ammunition depot.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told The Associated Press at the time that Pakistan had "only targeted terrorist infrastructure" in Kabul, not a hospital, saying: "We simply targeted the Afghan Taliban regime, their military structures, their terrorist infrastructure and all structures that support or encourage terrorists."
Although the two sides agreed to a temporary ceasefire during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, fighting later resumed at a lower intensity than the heavy clashes seen in February and March, when the Pakistani Air Force repeatedly targeted what it said were Pakistani Taliban positions and Afghan military targets. Afghanistan said the airstrikes had hit civilian areas.
Previous peace talks held in Istanbul in November failed to produce a lasting agreement.
It remains unclear who is representing Pakistan and Afghanistan in the latest round of talks in China, officials said.