Cross‑Border Fire Near Spin Boldak Kills Five Civilians, Wounds Eight as Fragile Ceasefire Frays

Overnight Exchange of Fire Along Afghan‑Pakistan Border Kills Civilians

An overnight exchange of gunfire between Afghan forces and Pakistani troops along the tense Afghanistan‑Pakistan frontier left five Afghan civilians dead and eight people wounded on both sides, officials said Saturday.

The incident took place near the border town of Spin Boldak in southern Kandahar province. Local Afghan officials said the dead included three children and a woman, and that five Afghan civilians were wounded. Pakistani authorities reported three civilians wounded on their side, including a woman.

Conflicting Accounts

Afghan and Pakistani authorities traded blame for the clash, which violated a fragile, Qatar‑mediated ceasefire brokered after heavy fighting in October. Each side offered a different version of how the incident began.

Ali Mohammad Haqmal, head of information for Spin Boldak district, said Pakistani forces opened fire first. He said Afghan forces did not immediately return fire for 10–15 minutes and that, when they did, Afghan return fire stopped within an hour while Pakistani shooting continued into Saturday morning.

By contrast, Mohammad Sadiq, a local Pakistani police official, told reporters the shooting originated from the Afghan side and that Pakistani troops returned fire near the Chaman border crossing, a vital transit route between the countries.

Abidullah Farooqi, a spokesman for the Afghan border police, added that Pakistani forces had thrown a hand grenade into the Spin Boldak area, prompting the Afghan response. Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesman for Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said on X that the "Afghan Taliban regime resorted to unprovoked firing along the Chaman border" and reaffirmed that Pakistani forces remained alert to protect territorial integrity and citizens.

Wider Context

Tensions between Kabul and Islamabad rose sharply in October after deadly border clashes that left dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants dead and hundreds wounded. The violence followed explosions in Kabul on Oct. 9 that the Taliban government blamed on Pakistan.

A Qatar‑brokered ceasefire that began in October has largely held, but formal negotiations have not produced a lasting settlement. Pakistan has blamed many militant attacks inside its territory on the Tehrik‑e‑Taliban Pakistan (TTP). While the TTP is organizationally separate from the Afghan Taliban, the groups are allied and many TTP fighters are believed to be sheltering in Afghanistan, complicating bilateral ties.

The cross‑border exchange occurred a day after Pakistan said it would allow the United Nations to deliver relief supplies into Afghanistan through the Chaman and Torkham crossings, which had been largely closed amid the dispute.

Separate Security Operations in Pakistan

Separately, Pakistan’s military said its security forces killed nine Pakistani Taliban militants during two intelligence‑based operations on Friday in the northwestern districts of Tank and Lakki Marwat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.

Reporting: Ahmed from Islamabad; contribution from Elena Becatoros in Athens.