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Heavy fighting broke out along the entire Durand Line — the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan — as Taliban militants clashed with Pakistani forces, ToloNews reports.
According to the outlet, the Taliban claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several districts of northwestern Pakistan that left 20 security personnel and three civilians dead.
“Local sources report large-scale clashes between Taliban forces and the Pakistani army along the Durand Line,” the report states.
The attacks took place on Friday in multiple areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, which borders Afghanistan. Eleven soldiers were killed in the Khyber border district, while seven police officers died when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the gates of a police training school in Dera Ismail Khan.
The Pakistani government has said that Islamabad reserves the right to enter Afghan territory if necessary, though it also confirmed its approval of a proposal to open dialogue with Kabul.
Earlier, the Taliban’s top military commander rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand to return Bagram Air Base to American control. Trump previously called the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan under Joe Biden’s administration a “mistake.”
