KURRAM: Pakistani forces shelled Afghan Taliban positions during Kurram border clashes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday after cross-border firing, Pakistani security sources reported.
Those sources accused Taliban forces of opening fire in the Taida sector of Upper Kurram and the Ghozgarhi border area. They claimed the firing was intended to help militants cross into Pakistan.
Pakistani troops targeted the Top Sar post and Shapola base camp with artillery; the camp was destroyed, and another border post was abandoned by Taliban personnel.
They claimed several Afghan Taliban personnel were killed near Ghozgarhi but supplied no precise casualty figure. No verified death toll was available.
Fighting continued at the time of their account, which described Pakistani troops as remaining on alert. It did not establish when the exchanges began or whether they had subsequently stopped.
Three Pakistani security officials, speaking anonymously to the Associated Press, described fighting that lasted hours on Saturday.
Across the border, local sources in Afghanistan’s Paktia province told Afghanistan International that heavy exchanges involved Dand Wa Patan district, opposite Kurram. Their accounts placed fighting on both sides of the frontier.
Some of those local sources claimed casualties on both sides without specifying deaths or injuries. They provided no figures that could establish the extent of losses among Pakistani troops or Afghan Taliban personnel.
