Pakistani forces, Afghan Taliban exchange fire after militants attempt to infiltrate Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani forces and Afghan Taliban personnel exchanged fire at several locations along Pakistan’s northwestern border Saturday, with Pakistani security officials and state-run media saying troops backed by artillery destroyed Taliban posts.

The officials also said Pakistani troops killed an unspecified number of Pakistani Taliban militants trying to cross into Pakistan from a remote area of eastern Afghanistan during the clashes.

The fighting lasted for hours along the border in Kurram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to three Pakistani security officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

There was no immediate comment from Afghanistan’s Taliban government.

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have escalated under repeated border clashes and Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan this year, deepening a longstanding dispute over militant activity.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said in September that it had documented more than 1,100 civilian deaths and injuries from cross-border violence in Afghanistan this year.

Militant violence has surged in Pakistan in recent months, with much of it blamed on the Pakistani Taliban, who are formerly known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, which is separate from but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan says many TTP leaders and insurgents have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power there in 2021, an allegation Kabul denies.

Pakistani authorities say more than 2,800 militant attacks since January have killed 3,000 people across Pakistan, mainly in the northwest and the southwestern province of Balochistan.