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

The Pakistani military announced that its troops had eliminated "15-20 Taliban fighters" and injured numerous others in the Spin Boldak district frontier area.

A Taliban government representative claimed that 12 Afghan civilians had been killed and over a hundred wounded by artillery from Pakistan. He added that numerous Pakistani soldiers had been killed. None of the alleged deaths could be independently confirmed.

Violence between the neighbouring countries has escalated since explosions rocked Afghanistan last week, which Kabul blamed on Pakistan. The Afghan leadership deny claims that it is harboring militants targeting Pakistan.

Social Media and Military Engagements

The two sides are not only fighting for the advantage on the border, but also on digital platforms, attempting to persuade the public that their faction is causing more damage.

The most recent clashes follow intense cross-border hostilities over the past few days, when the Afghan forces asserted to have eliminated 58 members of the Islamabad's armed forces and Islamabad reported it killed 200 "Taliban and linked insurgents". The claimed casualty figures provided by each side could not be independently verified.

Several days of unstable calm that had lasted since the weekend were shattered on Wednesday.

Local Reports and Impact

Footage allegedly of the fighting and its aftermath have been circulated on the internet and on social channels, including footage said to be of those deceased and blurry shots from low-light cameras claiming to be of guard positions destroyed. These videos have not been authenticated.

A informant in the border area in Afghanistan reported that clashes broke out at around 04:00 local time (23:30 GMT on the previous day). Another local in Spin Boldak, who lives about one kilometre away from the border crossing, said that "very heavy clashes continued for almost five hours".

"I see unmanned aircraft and jets soaring over us, a number of our family members are injured," they said.

A medical professional in one of the hospitals in the region reported that he tallied "7 fatalities and 36 wounded transported to the hospital", including men, women and minors.

The circumstances were "tense" and additional victims were being taken to hospital, he said.

Evacuations and Global Responses

A regional Taliban official in the area stated that "numerous of households have been forced to flee since last night due to the intense fighting". He said they were on "high alert" after a several Taliban posts were targeted by aircraft from Pakistan. He added that they had the remains of 2 armed forces members.

In a separate overnight clash on Pakistan's western border, the Pakistani military claimed that twenty-five to thirty militant and local insurgent fighters were "believed" to have been eliminated.

The clashes have prompted calls for de-escalation from other countries including Beijing and Moscow, as well as a proposal from the American leader that he could step in to broker a ceasefire.

On Wednesday, Richard Bennett, UN special rapporteur on the situation of civil liberties in Afghanistan, wrote on a social media platform that he was "very worried" by accounts of civilian casualties and displacement because of the clashes.

"I call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint, safeguard civilians, and follow global regulations," he wrote.

Long-Standing Disputes

Islamabad has long accused the Taliban authorities of allowing the Pakistani militants to function from their land and battle against the Pakistani administration in an attempt to enforce a strict Islamic-led system of rule.

The Afghan Taliban government has consistently rejected this.