ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Friday at least 13 Afghan Taliban personnel were killed in an overnight border clash, rejecting Kabul’s account that its forces had destroyed a Pakistani military post without suffering casualties themselves.

The fighting near Afghanistan’s Spin Boldak district and Pakistan’s Gulistan sector marks the latest escalation after three months of relative calm, with Islamabad carrying out strikes in Afghanistan this week following a deadly militant attack in northwestern Pakistan and subsequent drone incursions from across the border.

Afghanistan’s defense ministry said its forces had destroyed a Pakistani military post near Spin Boldak after Pakistani troops opened fire toward Afghan territory. It also said Afghan forces suffered no casualties or damage.

“The claim is fake and fabricated,” Pakistan’s information ministry said in a social media post on X.

“As per actual facts, an attempted Afghan aggression in the Gulistan sector was thwarted on night 24/25 September and during the process and subsequent heavy punishment inflicted on opposing Taliban posts, at least 13 Afghan Taliban personnel were killed and several injured,” it continued.

Neither side’s claims about casualties or damage could be independently verified.

Pakistani security sources had earlier told Reuters that forces had thwarted an attempt by Afghan Taliban fighters to enter Pakistani territory in the Gulistan sector and that several Taliban members had been killed.

The sources said intermittent firing was continuing at the time and Pakistani forces remained on alert in the border area.

The confrontation comes after a sharp rise in cross-border hostilities this week.

Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Afghanistan on Monday, saying it killed 28 militants, days after an attack on a police compound in Kohat killed 23 people, including 17 police personnel and six civilians. Eight attackers were also killed in the ensuing security operation.

Afghan Taliban officials said Monday’s strikes killed three civilians, a toll also confirmed by the United Nations.

Pakistan’s air force struck 10 more locations in Afghanistan on Thursday after Islamabad said drones had entered Pakistani airspace from Afghanistan a day earlier. Islamabad said the sites were used to launch and store drones, while the Afghan Taliban denied carrying out such attacks.

Relations between the former allies have deteriorated sharply over the past year, with repeated cross-border clashes and airstrikes despite efforts by regional powers to mediate.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of harboring militant groups that stage attacks across the border. Kabul denies the charge, saying militancy is Pakistan’s internal problem.