KABUL, Feb 25 — Afghan and Pakistani forces traded fire at their border on Tuesday, officials on both sides said, while blaming each other for the outbreak of violence.

The clashes came days after Pakistan launched deadly air strikes on Afghanistan, killing multiple civilians, according to the UN, in attacks that Islamabad said targeted militants.

“There was firing from the Pakistani side towards Afghanistan, which was met with a response from the border forces,” said Zabihullah Noorani, head of the information department in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.

“Currently, the fighting has stopped, and there are no casualties on our side,” he told AFP.

In Pakistan, a spokesman for the prime minister accused Afghan forces of “unprovoked firing” along the frontier.

“Pakistan’s security forces responded immediately & effectively, silencing the Taliban aggression,” Mosharraf Zaidi wrote on X.

A security official near the border in Peshawar told AFP there were no reports of casualties on the Pakistani side, speaking anonymously as he was not authorised to talk to the media.

The violence follows Pakistani strikes on Nangarhar and Paktika provinces overnight into Sunday, which the UN mission in Afghanistan said killed at least 13 civilians.

The Taliban government said at least 18 people were killed and denied Pakistan’s announcement that the military operation left more than 80 militants dead.

Relations between the neighbours have plunged in recent months, with land border crossings largely shut since deadly fighting in October that killed more than 70 people on both sides.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to act against militant groups that carry out attacks in Pakistan, which the Taliban government denies.

Pakistan’s military launched its latest round of air strikes on Afghanistan following a series of deadly suicide blasts. — AFP