Pakistan and Afghanistan trade blame after border clash at Angoor Adda kills one civilian

Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities gave conflicting accounts of the clash, and neither side’s claims can be independently confirmed.

One person was killed and five were injured when fire from Afghanistan hit homes and shops in the border market town of Angoor Adda, in Pakistan’s South Waziristan district, on Tuesday 27 October, the office of the district’s deputy commissioner said, AFP reported. A senior local official told AFP that Pakistani forces responded with artillery fire on an Afghan checkpoint and that he could not confirm any casualties on the Afghan side.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi condemned what he called “unprovoked and blatant aggression by the Afghan Taliban regime against civilian homes”. Pakistan’s information ministry said Pakistani forces destroyed seven Afghan posts and inflicted heavy casualties, Dawn reported.

Taliban account

The Taliban’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that Pakistani troops carried out four drone strikes at about 1pm on Tuesday on the Angoor Adda market, a border checkpoint and security facilities in Barmal district of Afghanistan’s Paktika province, Afghanistan International reported. It said its forces responded by targeting Pakistani military bases and border posts, that several Pakistani soldiers were killed or wounded, and that there were no Afghan casualties.

Pakistan’s information ministry called the Taliban statement a “fabrication of lies” and said Afghan forces had fired first on civilians, Dawn reported.

Background

The two countries fought earlier this year, and sporadic attacks have continued since a truce in March, AFP reported. Pakistan accuses the Taliban government of sheltering militants, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, who carry out attacks in Pakistan; the Taliban deny this and say they do not allow Afghan territory to be used against other countries. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in fighting between the two countries since October 2025, according to the UN mission in Afghanistan, AFP reported.