According to Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, nine Afghan soldiers were “martyred” and 16 others were wounded in the overnight exchange of fire.

“Twenty Pakistani security outposts were destroyed,” Mujahid was quoted as saying by Tolo News.

Clashes reportedly began on Saturday when Afghan troops opened fire on Pakistani border posts along the frontier.

Mujahid said the operation was halted at midnight following mediation requests from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

He also accused Pakistan of providing sanctuary to ISIS militants who fled Afghanistan after their defeat.

“Training centers for ISIS-K have been established in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and trainees are being brought there through Karachi and Islamabad airports. Our findings show that the attacks in Iran and Moscow were orchestrated from these centers,” he claimed.

Mujahid alleged that recent terror attacks in Afghanistan were planned in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and demanded that Islamabad hand over ISIS members to Kabul.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that 23 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 29 injured in what it described as “outrageous” aggression from the Afghan side.

“During overnight skirmishes, 23 brave sons of Pakistan embraced shahadat (martyrdom) while defending the territorial integrity of our beloved country,” the ISPR said in a statement quoted by Dawn News.

Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban administration in Kabul of sheltering Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants who carry out cross-border attacks. The Afghan government has consistently rejected these allegations.

Armed clashes erupted along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border on Saturday after the Taliban accused Islamabad of carrying out airstrikes inside Afghan territory, escalating already fraught relations between the two neighbours.