10th day of border fighting: Taliban, Pakistani forces clash again in east

Taliban and Pakistani border troops clashed again Saturday morning along the frontier in Paktika province, as fighting between the two sides entered its tenth day, according to local Taliban officials.

Abdul Qadoos Makhdum, the Taliban district chief in Terwa district, said Taliban forces had launched attacks on five Pakistani border outposts and that the fighting was still continuing.

He did not provide details about casualties or damage from the clashes. Pakistani authorities have not publicly commented on the reported fighting.

In a separate incident, a spokesman for the Taliban governor in Khost province, Mustaghfar Gurbaz, said Pakistani forces had fired toward Brekhilo area of Gurez district, striking residential homes.

Gurbaz did not report casualties but said Taliban forces responded by targeting what he described as a Pakistani military fort in the Ghulam Khan area near the border.

Pakistani officials have not responded to those claims.

The latest incidents come amid a widening escalation between Pakistan and the Taliban, with clashes, artillery fire and airstrikes reported across several eastern and southern provinces over the past 10 days.

Both sides have reported heavy losses in the fighting, though most casualty figures remain unverified. The United Nations has warned that the conflict is increasingly affecting civilians, with 56 reported killed and tens of thousands displaced in recent days.