At least two civilians were killed and 25 others wounded as Pakistani forces carried out a series of cross-border strikes in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, a Taliban spokesman said.
Hamdullah Fitrat added that the attacks targeted border areas in Kunar, Paktika and Khost provinces, using rockets, artillery and drones. He said children were among the wounded.
In Kunar province, Fitrat said, 155 mortar rounds and long-range artillery shells struck parts of Sarkano and Manogai districts, injuring two children and damaging a vehicle.
In the Nawapas Dosarka area of Sarkano district, he said dozens of additional shells hit residential areas, killing two people and wounding eight children.
Elsewhere, a drone strike in Shakin district of Paktika province injured three civilians, he said. Another drone strike in Zazi Maidan district of Khost province wounded two more.
Fitrat said shelling continued into Thursday, with 185 additional artillery rounds fired into Sarkano district, wounding 10 civilians. He added that 178 more shells struck areas in Kunar province, including Manogai, Dangam, Nari and Shultan districts, though no further casualties were reported.
Pakistani officials have not commented on the claims.
The strikes come as clashes along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border enter their sixth week, following an escalation that began on Feb. 26. The fighting has included cross-border shelling and Pakistani airstrikes, and the United Nations has said that more than 76 civilians were killed in the first two weeks of violence in eastern Afghanistan.
The violence has continued even as the two sides pursue diplomatic efforts. Taliban said they were holding “comprehensive and responsible” talks with Pakistan in the Chinese city of Urumqi, where a mid-level delegation was sent to discuss security, trade and regional cooperation.
Taliban said the talks, hosted at China’s request, were being conducted on the basis of “mutual respect” and “constructive engagement,” and expressed hope that diplomacy could lead to “practical and sustainable solutions.”
Pakistan has taken a more conditional stance. Tahir Andrabi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, said Thursday that responsibility for achieving “real progress” in the talks rests with the Taliban, calling for “visible and verifiable” action against militant groups operating from Afghanistan’s territory.
Pakistan has long accused the Taliban of harboring Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, a militant group behind attacks inside Pakistan. The Taliban deny that the group operates from Afghanistan, although a United Nations monitoring team has estimated it has about 6,000 fighters there.
There has been no indication of a breakthrough in the talks, and no agreement on a cease-fire has been announced.
Efforts to reduce tensions have so far yielded limited results. Similar talks held last year in Istanbul, Doha and Saudi Arabia did not produce a lasting framework for de-escalation.
Earlier this week, a meeting in Peshawar described as a joint peace jirga called for a cease-fire and renewed dialogue, but no representatives from Afghanistan attended, according to people familiar with the gathering.
