Edited by: Vikrant Singh

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Islamabad | At least one Pakistani soldier has died during clashes with Afghan Taliban forces amidst heightened tensions along the de-facto border, a source in Islamabad said Saturday (Dec 28). The clashes took place overnight as militants linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) tried entering Pakistan near Kurram and North Waziristan points, the source claimed.

The clashes continued through the early hours of Saturday where Afghan Taliban forces and TTP militants opened fire on Pakistani soldiers using heavy weaponry along the frontier between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan and Khost province in Afghanistan.

The source added that Pakistani retaliation resulted in “heavy losses” on the Afghan side, claiming that “13 TTP and Afghan Taliban soldiers were killed and many were injured due to effective counter-fire by Pakistani military.”

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Sources in Afghanistan’s Taliban-run defence ministry confirmed to WION about the killing of at least three soldiers while reporting injuries to nine others.

At least three soldiers sustained injuries in the battle, the Pakistani source said. News agency AFP reported citing sources that seven Pak soldiers were wounded in the exchange of fire.

Timeline of escalation

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The fresh escalation comes after Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities earlier this week accused Pakistan of killing 46 people, mainly women and children, in air strikes near the border. Sources in Pakistan said the strikes were launched  targeting “terrorist hideouts”; however, Islamabad has not confirmed it carried out the cross-border attack.

Tensions between the two nations are on the rise since Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021. The Pakistani military had earlier carried out strikes in Afghanistan’s border areas in March this year, killing eight civilians, as claimed by Taliban authorities.

Also read: Afghanistan Taliban forces launch strike at Pakistan; Islamabad retaliates: Sources

Pakistan’s fresh strike on TTP militants came after Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed raids on an army outpost earlier this month, which resulted in the death of 16 Pak soldiers.

“We desire good ties with them (Kabul) but TTP should be stopped from killing our innocent people,” Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a cabinet address Friday.

“This is our red line,” he added.