By Mohammad Yunus Yawar
KABUL, March 6 (Reuters) – Pakistani and Afghan troops exchanged fire at dozens of points along their border on Friday as the U.N. said their week-old conflict has forced the displacement of more than 100,000 people.
The South Asian nations show no signs of rapprochement in their worst fighting in years, adding to the volatility in a region also contending with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran – a nation that borders both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Combat has included Pakistani air strikes on Taliban government installations, such as the Bagram air base north of the Afghan capital Kabul.
HOMES SHELLED DURING RAMADAN MEALS
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense said Taliban forces struck Pakistani military installations along the 2,600-km (1,600-mile) border, destroying numerous posts and shooting down a drone.
Pakistani security sources said they carried out ground and air operations against military targets including Kandahar, the heartland of the Taliban and where its core leadership resides, and destroyed several Afghan border posts.
Dozens gathered in Kabul on Friday to protest Pakistan’s attacks on Afghan territory, chanting anti-Pakistan slogans, a witness said, while the Bakhter news agency said a large gathering in Laghman Province demonstrated against Pakistan’s recent attacks.
People living in border towns have told Reuters that troops begin exchanging heavy shelling after sunset, placing homes in the firing line just as families sit down to break their fast in the holy month of Ramadan.
Several said relatives and neighbours have fled.
“The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan remains tense amid active conflict along the border,” the United Nations refugee agency said, adding that some 115,000 people in Afghanistan and 3,000 in Pakistan were thought to have fled their homes.
Several countries have offered to negotiate a truce, most recently Turkey, although the Iran war has diverted the attention of most Gulf states that had stepped forward.
‘NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT’
Pakistani government spokesperson Mosharraf Zaidi said no negotiations were taking place to end the conflict.
“There is nothing to talk about. There will be no dialogue and no negotiations,” he told state-owned Pakistan TV. “Terrorism from Afghanistan has to end – that is Afghanistan’s problem. Pakistan’s responsibility is to protect its citizens.”
The conflict began last week with Pakistani air strikes inside Afghanistan that Islamabad said targeted militant strongholds. Afghanistan called the strikes a violation of sovereignty and announced retaliatory operations.
Islamabad has said Kabul provides safe haven to militants executing attacks on Pakistan from its soil. The Taliban has denied aiding such groups and said militancy in Pakistan is an internal problem.
On Friday, the Taliban’s defence ministry said it had also struck a military base in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province. Reuters could not verify the strike, and Pakistan’s military has not reported any damage in the region.
Both sides have regularly said they inflicted heavy damage on the other and killed hundreds of opposition troops, without providing evidence. Reuters has not been able to verify the reports.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan has said 56 civilians have been killed in the country and 128 wounded since fighting began. The Taliban government has said 110 civilians have been killed.
Pakistan has rejected both sets of figures, saying it targets only militants and support infrastructure.
(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul; Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by William Mallard)
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