Dozens Killed As Afghan Taliban, Pakistan Exchange Deadliest Gunfire In Years

Dozens of people have been killed and wounded as fresh cross-border clashes erupted between Afghan and Pakistani forces in the early hours of Wednesday. Reports claim that the Afghan Taliban forces have destroyed a Pakistan Army border outpost and seized a tank that was used by the Pakistani military to target Taliban posts.

Both sides accused each other of triggering the deadly skirmishes that spanned Pakistan's Chaman district and southeastern Afghanistan's Spin Boldak district.

Afghanistan had said its forces killed 58 Pakistani soldiers during overnight border operations, while Pakistan claimed it killed more than 200 Afghan soldiers, while 23 of its soldiers were dead.

What Afghanistan Said

The Afghan Taliban claimed that at least 12 people were killed and over 100 others were injured in a Pakistani military strike on Spin Boldak-- a key border district between Afghanistan's Kandahar province and Pakistan's Balochistan region.

#BREAKING: Pakistan Army border outpost destroyed by Afghan Taliban Army in fresh Af-Pak border clashes. Many border posts of Pakistan Army decimated, Pakistani soldiers eliminated. pic.twitter.com/BNCASvJrBk

— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) October 15, 2025

In a statement shared on X, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that Pakistani forces launched an attack on the border district early in the morning using light and heavy weapons. He said several Pakistani soldiers were killed in retaliatory action by Afghan forces.

"Unfortunately, this morning, Pakistani forces once again launched attacks with light and heavy weapons on Afghanistan in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar, as a result of which more than 12 civilians were martyred and more than 100 were injured. After that, Afghan forces were forced to take retaliatory action," Zabihullah Mujahid posted on X.

Mujahid claimed Afghan forces returned fire, killing “a large number” of Pakistani soldiers, seizing Pakistani weapons and tanks and destroying Pakistani military installations.

"In retaliatory operations, multiple Pakistani aggressor soldiers were killed, their posts and centres were captured, weapons and tanks fell into the hands of Afghan forces, and most of their military installations were destroyed. However, the mujahideen, with high spirits, are ready to defend their homeland, sanctuaries, and people," he added.

⚡ BREAKING: Afghan Taliban forces have seized a tank from Pakistan army and taken it to Afghanistan. pic.twitter.com/8KGSrHohjE

— OSINT Updates (@OsintUpdates) October 15, 2025

Afghan Taliban forces also released a video showing the bodies of 10 more Pakistani police and security forces personnel killed in recent border clashes. Taliban leaders can be seen desecrating and mocking the dead soldiers.

What Pakistan Said

However, according to Pakistan's state-run media, Afghan forces and Pakistani Taliban jointly opened fire at a Pakistani post “without provocation", prompting what the media described as a “strong response” from Pakistani troops in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistani forces responded, damaging Afghan tanks and military posts, according to Pakistan TV. Security officials told the Associated Press that Pakistan's military has also destroyed a sprawling training facility of the Pakistani Taliban.

“Taliban forces attacked a Pakistani post near Chaman (district),” Habib Ullah Bangulzai, the regional administrator in Pakistan's Chaman district, told Reuters.

The fighting continued for about five hours in the early hours of the day, he said, claiming that Pakistani forces had “repulsed” the attack.

In a separate attack by the Pakistan Taliban on Mahmoodzai Post in the Ghiljo area of Orakzai, eight Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were killed and several others injured. Some FC soldiers are also missing.

Pakistan-Afghanistan Tensions

This is the second time this week that the two sides have traded fire along their long border. Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have flared in recent days, with a deadly exchange of gunfire stoking fears of a wider regional conflict.

The fighting followed strikes in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, and the border province of Paktika last Thursday that the Taliban blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad, however, has not officially acknowledged the attacks.

The latest flare-up, the deadliest in the last few years, coincided with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi's historic visit to India, triggering concern in Islamabad.

Islamabad has long accused Kabul of harbouring the terrorist group-- Pakistani Taliban (known as the TTP)-- which Afghanistan's Taliban denies. Islamabad has said it wants Afghanistan to stop the Pakistani Taliban militants from using its soil for attacks inside its country, which Kabul denies.