Pakistan and Afghan Taliban trade blame over border clash at Angoor Adda

ANGOOR ADDA — Pakistani and Afghan Taliban forces clashed at the Angoor Adda border crossing on Tuesday. Officials on each side blamed the other for starting the fighting, and their accounts of casualties differ, according to BBC Urdu and Antara.

Pakistani account

Misrat Zaman, deputy commissioner of Lower Waziristan, said Afghan forces opened fire without provocation on Tuesday evening. Pakistani forces then responded and targeted posts and bunkers inside Afghanistan, he said. He claimed Afghan personnel left their positions and fled.

Pakistani officials said one civilian was killed and five were injured by the Taliban fire, according to BBC Urdu.

The fact-check account of Pakistan's information ministry on X rejected the Afghan version of events as fabricated. It said Taliban forces fired and shelled unarmed civilians on the Pakistani side. It also said Pakistani forces stopped the fire and destroyed seven Taliban positions, causing heavy losses. The post gave no figures for those losses.

Afghan account

Afghanistan's Ministry of Defence said Pakistan launched four drone strikes at about 1 pm local time (08:30 GMT) on Tuesday. The strikes hit a market and a nearby security facility in the Angoor Ada district of Paktika province, according to Ariana News, cited by Antara.

The ministry said Afghan defence and security forces responded by attacking nearby Pakistani bases and posts. It said several Pakistani soldiers were killed or wounded and that the facilities were badly damaged. It said no Afghan personnel were hurt. BBC Urdu reported the ministry also mentioned a commissioner's office among the targets.

The ministry said Pakistan's military started the attacks and that Afghan forces acted in self-defence and to protect their territory.

Antara also cited Afghanistan Times on Telegram, which reported that seven Pakistani military personnel were killed and others injured. No other source in the material confirms that figure.

Local witness

Maulana Tasbihullah, a resident of Angoor Adda who attended a jirga aimed at calming tensions, told BBC Urdu that a single shot was heard during the meeting. Silence followed, he said. Firing resumed a few hours later with all kinds of weapons, including shelling.

He said shells fell on the Angoor Adda market and nearby houses. A shell that hit the timber market beside the bazaar started a fire, he said. Shops and homes were damaged. According to him, the firing stopped at about 8 pm on Tuesday.

Local people also told BBC Urdu that some families living very close to the border moved temporarily to safer places.

What is unconfirmed

BBC Urdu said it could not independently verify the claims from either side. The competing accounts of who fired first, the number of Pakistani military deaths and the damage to positions on both sides remain unconfirmed.

Background

Angoor Adda is an important crossing on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Lower South Waziristan. Afghanistan's Paktika province lies on the other side.

BBC Urdu's related coverage points to earlier tension this year. In one report, Pakistan said it had killed 28 militants in border areas, while the Afghan Taliban accused it of targeting civilian areas.