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Fresh fighting broke out along the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier early on Wednesday, with each side accusing the other of starting deadly confrontations.

Pakistan's armed forces announced that its forces had eliminated "fifteen to twenty Afghan Taliban" and wounded numerous others in the Spin Boldak district frontier area.

A Taliban government representative said that 12 non-combatants had been killed and over a hundred wounded by artillery from Pakistan. He further stated that numerous military personnel had been lost their lives. Not one of the alleged fatalities could be independently confirmed.

Violence between the neighbors has escalated since explosions rocked Afghanistan last week, which the Afghan capital attributed on Islamabad. The Taliban reject allegations that it is harboring armed groups targeting Pakistan.

Social Media and Armed Confrontations

The two sides are not only fighting for the advantage on the frontier, but also on social media, trying to persuade the public that their faction is causing more damage.

The most recent clashes come after intense border hostilities over the weekend, when the Taliban claimed to have killed 58 members of the Pakistani military and Islamabad said it killed two hundred "Taliban and affiliated insurgents". The reported death tolls provided by both parties could not be confirmed by external sources.

Several days of unstable calm that had persisted since the recent days were broken on Wednesday morning.

Local Accounts and Impact

Videos allegedly of the fighting and its aftereffects have been circulated on the internet and on social channels, including footage said to be of those killed and blurry shots from night vision cameras claiming to be of check posts demolished. These recordings have not been verified.

A source in Spin Boldak in Afghanistan reported that clashes broke out 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 border crossing, reported that "intense hostilities persisted for almost several hours".

"We observed drones and fighter planes soaring over us, some of our family members are injured," they added.

A doctor in one of the hospitals in the region stated that he counted "seven fatalities and thirty-six wounded brought to the hospital", including men, women and minors.

The situation were "tense" and more victims were being transferred to medical care, he noted.

Evacuations and International Responses

A regional authority figure in Spin Boldak stated that "numerous of households have been forced to flee since the previous evening due to the heavy fighting". He mentioned they were on "maximum readiness" after a few military positions were targeted by Pakistani jets. He further indicated that they had the remains of two armed forces members.

In a separate night-time engagement on Pakistan's western border, the Pakistani military said that 25 to 30 militant and Pakistani Taliban fighters were "believed" to have been killed.

The hostilities have led to appeals for de-escalation from foreign nations including Beijing and Russia, as well as a suggestion from US President Donald Trump that he could intervene to broker peace.

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 fighting.

"I urge all parties to practice maximum restraint, protect non-combatants, and abide by international law," he wrote.

Historical Disputes

Pakistan has for years accused the Taliban authorities of allowing the Pakistan Taliban to function from their land and fight against the Pakistani administration in an attempt to impose a rigid Islamic-led system of governance.

The Afghan Taliban government has consistently rejected these allegations.