Five people were killed and six wounded in a short bout of cross-border firing between Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials said. The incident — blamed by each side on the other — occurred during ceasefire talks in Turkey and lasted about 10–15 minutes. Negotiators had agreed to pursue a monitoring and verification mechanism, but talks are stalled and previous October clashes caused heavy civilian and military losses.
Five Killed, Six Wounded in Brief Afghan–Pakistan Border Exchange as Ceasefire Talks Stall
Five people were killed and six wounded in a short bout of cross-border firing between Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials said. The incident — blamed by each side on the other — occurred during ceasefire talks in Turkey and lasted about 10–15 minutes. Negotiators had agreed to pursue a monitoring and verification mechanism, but talks are stalled and previous October clashes caused heavy civilian and military losses.
04:18, 07.11.2025Conflict
Five people were killed and six wounded in a short burst of cross-border firing between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Thursday, a hospital official in Afghanistan told AFP, in an incident both governments blamed on the other.
Incident and immediate response
An anonymous official at Spin Boldak district hospital in southern Kandahar province said the victims included four women and one man. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the Pakistani side. Residents described the exchange as brief, lasting roughly 10–15 minutes.
“Five people died in today's incident — four women and one man — and six were wounded,” the hospital official told AFP.
Claims and counterclaims
The two sides quickly exchanged blame. Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid accused Pakistani forces of opening fire on Spin Boldak while ceasefire negotiations were under way in Istanbul, saying Afghan forces held their fire "out of respect for the negotiation team and to prevent civilian casualties."
Pakistan's Information Ministry rejected the Afghan account on X, saying, "Firing was initiated from the Afghan side, to which our security forces responded immediately in a measured and responsible manner." Pakistan later said calm had been restored and that the ceasefire remained intact.
Talks and wider context
The incident threatens to complicate ceasefire negotiations in Turkey aimed at finalizing a truce to halt recurring deadly clashes along the two countries' shared frontier. Negotiators in Istanbul reportedly reached an impasse last week over the details of a ceasefire and agreed in principle to establish a monitoring and verification mechanism to maintain peace and penalize violators.
Security tensions center on Islamabad's long-standing accusation that Kabul shelters militant groups — notably the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) — that stage attacks inside Pakistan, an allegation denied by the Taliban administration. Pakistan also alleges Afghan authorities act with support from India, a charge Kabul rejects amid warming Kabul–New Delhi ties.
Casualties from earlier clashes
The United Nations reported that during a week of clashes in October, 50 civilians were killed and 447 wounded on the Afghan side of the border; at least five people also died in explosions in Kabul. Pakistan's military said 23 of its soldiers were killed and 29 wounded during the same period, without providing figures for civilian casualties.
Why this matters
The exchange underscores the fragility of ceasefire efforts and the risk that localized incidents could derail broader negotiations. With both sides accusing each other and civilians bearing the cost, establishing reliable monitoring and verification mechanisms will be crucial to any lasting truce.
Sources: AFP, United Nations, statements from Pakistan's Information Ministry and Taliban spokespeople.