Pakistan rejects Afghan Taliban claims over Angoor Adda border clash
By The South Asia Times
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has rejected the Afghan Taliban’s account of a border clash near Angoor Adda, saying Afghan forces initiated unprovoked firing and mortar shelling on civilians on the Pakistani side, killing one person and injuring five others.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in a statement issued as a fact check, accused the Afghan Taliban of spreading fabricated accounts of the incident.
The ministry said Pakistani security forces responded to the attack, inflicting heavy casualties on Afghan forces and destroying seven military posts.
It also alleged that Afghan Taliban forces were acting under Indian influence but did not provide independently verifiable evidence to substantiate the claim.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense said Pakistani forces carried out drone strikes in the eastern province of Paktika before Afghan forces retaliated against Pakistani military positions.
Pakistan, however, rejected the Afghan Taliban’s account, maintaining that Afghan forces initiated the confrontation by firing on civilians in South Waziristan.
A local Pakistani administrator had earlier reported that a mortar shell struck a civilian house in the Angoor Adda area, killing one person and injuring five others. Several shops were also reportedly damaged.
The latest confrontation comes amid longstanding tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan over border security and militant activity.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of allowing the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to operate from Afghan territory and launch attacks inside Pakistan.
Recurring border clashes and competing claims over attacks, military casualties and civilian deaths have further strained relations between the two neighbours.
