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New hostilities erupted along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border early on Wednesday morning, with each side blaming the other of initiating lethal clashes.

The Pakistani military announced that its forces had killed "15-20 Afghan Taliban" and wounded many in the Spin Boldak border district.

A Taliban government representative claimed that 12 Afghan civilians had been fatally struck and more than 100 wounded by Pakistani firing. He further stated that several Pakistani soldiers had been lost their lives. Not one of the alleged deaths could be independently confirmed.

Hostilities between the neighbors has escalated since blasts rocked Afghanistan recently, which Kabul blamed on Pakistan. The Afghan leadership deny claims that it is harboring militants aiming at Pakistan.

Online Platforms and Armed Confrontations

The opposing forces are not only fighting for the upper hand on the frontier, but also on digital platforms, attempting to convince the general population that their faction is inflicting more damage.

The most recent fighting come after severe border confrontations over the past few days, when the Afghan forces claimed to have eliminated 58 members of the Islamabad's armed forces and Islamabad said it killed 200 "militants and linked insurgents". The claimed death tolls announced by both parties could not be confirmed by external sources.

A few days of fragile calm that had persisted since the recent days were shattered on Wednesday.

Local Reports and Consequences

Footage allegedly of the fighting and its aftermath have been circulated on the internet and on social channels, including images said to be of those killed and grainy shots from night vision cameras purporting to be of check posts demolished. These recordings have not been authenticated.

A informant in the border area in Afghanistan reported that clashes erupted at around 4 a.m. local time (11:30 p.m. GMT on the previous day). Another local in Spin Boldak, who lives about one kilometre away from the frontier post, said that "intense clashes persisted for almost five hours".

"We observed drones and jets soaring over us, a number of our family members are injured," they said.

A doctor in one of the medical facilities in Spin Boldak reported that he tallied "seven fatalities and 36 wounded transported to the medical center", including men, females and children.

The circumstances were "tense" and more victims were being taken to medical care, he noted.

Displacement and Global Responses

A regional authority figure in Spin Boldak stated that "numerous of families have been displaced since the previous evening due to the intense fighting". He said they were on "high alert" after a few Taliban posts were attacked by aircraft from Pakistan. He added that they had the bodies of two armed forces members.

In a separate night-time engagement on the western border, the Islamabad's forces claimed that 25 to 30 militant and local insurgent fighters were "believed" to have been eliminated.

The clashes have led to calls for reduced tensions from other countries including China and Russia, as well as a suggestion from the American leader that he could intervene to broker a ceasefire.

On Wednesday, Richard Bennett, UN special rapporteur on the conditions of human rights in Afghanistan, posted on a social media platform that he was "very worried" by accounts of non-combatant deaths and displacement because of the fighting.

"I urge everyone involved to practice maximum restraint, safeguard non-combatants, and abide by international law," he stated.

Long-Standing Tensions

Pakistan has long accused the Taliban authorities of permitting the Pakistani militants to operate from their territory and fight against the Pakistani administration in an attempt to enforce a rigid Islamic-led system of governance.

The Taliban leadership has always denied these allegations.