The Taliban’s Defense Ministry said early Friday that four Pakistani soldiers were killed in a fresh clash along the border in Ali Shir district of Khost province in eastern Afghanistan.
In a statement, the ministry said Taliban forces also seized a Pakistani military outpost in the area. Pakistani officials have not publicly commented on the claim.
Hours earlier, Enayatullah Khwarazmi, spokesman for the Taliban Defense Ministry, claimed that at least 30 Pakistani soldiers were killed during recent fighting along the Durand Line, the disputed border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Khwarazmi said their forces also captured a Pakistani military post in Shorabak district of Kandahar province and later destroyed it with explosives. He added that five Pakistani outposts in Dand-e-Patan district of Paktia had also been seized.
According to him, some of the Pakistani troops killed were reinforcements sent to assist forces already stationed in the area.
Pakistan has not issued an official response to the latest Taliban claims.
Pakistani officials have previously said nearly 400 Taliban members have been killed in the fighting and airstrikes during the recent escalation. Taliban defense ministry, for its part, claims at least 220 Pakistani soldiers have been killed so far.
The clashes between Taliban forces and Pakistani troops have now entered their ninth day, with both sides reporting heavy losses. None of the casualty figures provided by either side could be independently verified.
