Clashes resumed at the Torkham border crossing, wounding Afghan returnees in a nearby camp as cross-border fighting intensifies between the neighbours.
TORKHAM: Clashes near the key Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan resumed on Friday.
An AFP journalist on the Afghan side reported incoming shellfire from around 9:30 am local time.
A second journalist confirmed gunfire could be heard in the distance as Afghan soldiers moved towards the frontier.
The violence follows an overnight attack on the Omari camp for Afghan returnees near the crossing.
“Unfortunately seven of our refugees have been wounded, and the condition of one woman is serious,” said Qureshi Badlun, Nangarhar’s information chief.
Returnee Gander Khan, 65, described scenes of panic with “children, women, and old people were running”.
“I saw blood, it wounded two or three children, and two or three women,” he told AFP.
Another returnee, Zarghon, said several children went missing during the chaos.
“Some have left their papers, and just escaped. They didn’t even take their money,” he said.
The Torkham crossing has remained open for Afghans returning from Pakistan despite the border being largely shut since October.
Afghan forces launched a border offensive against Pakistani troops late Thursday.
The Taliban authorities stated this was retaliation for deadly Pakistani air strikes days earlier.
Pakistan subsequently launched air strikes on Kabul and Kandahar, heard by AFP journalists.
In Jalalabad, an AFP photographer saw several women wounded in the Omari camp receiving treatment.