South Waziristan: Pakistan Says Afghan Firing Kills One and Injures Five Near Border
Pakistani officials say firing from Afghan territory killed one civilian and injured five members of a family in South Waziristan. Pakistan says it hit back at Afghan Taliban posts.
ISLAMABAD, October 28 — One person was killed, and five others were injured in South Waziristan after firing from Afghan territory hit a market and homes near the border, according to Pakistani officials, who said the attack caused panic among residents and damaged several buildings. Pakistan says its forces responded to the attack, while the Afghan Taliban have not commented on the incident, leaving the circumstances and responsibility unclear.
The incident took place on Tuesday night in the Angoor Adda area of Lower South Waziristan. In a post on X, the district’s deputy commissioner said Afghan Taliban forces fired without provocation on civilian houses and the Angoor Adda bazaar. A mortar round struck a home, killing one civilian and injuring five members of the same family. Many shops were damaged. Pakistani troops along the border, he said, were responding effectively and heavily.
Other officials gave more detail on the fire itself, saying it came from posts inside Afghan territory and targeted Pakistani border posts with sniper rifles as well as small and heavy weapons. These accounts have not been independently confirmed, and the Taliban’s own version of events is not yet known, leaving a gap between the two sides’ narratives.
A Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, did not respond right away to requests for comment, and officials in Kabul have so far not explained the reported attack or any indication of whether Afghan forces were involved.
Security sources described a strong reply. They said Pakistani forces went after several Afghan Taliban border posts, mortar positions and defensive bunkers with small and heavy weapons, including artillery. The response was “intense and accurate,” the sources said, and it forced the Taliban to leave their positions. They added that Pakistani forces have full control of the area. Those claims also come from one side, and nothing in the reports confirms them. The sources said troops remain alert along the border and are ready to answer any further attack.
Angoor Adda matters because it is one of the most important and sensitive crossings on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, serving as a major trade route and a key point of movement for people and goods between the two countries. Its location near contested tribal areas has long made it a flashpoint, and any violence there can quickly affect commerce, security, and daily life on both sides of the border.
Local officials say firing from the Afghan side has become routine in the area, creating fear among tribal residents and disrupting trade and everyday activity. Families living nearby say the repeated clashes have made it difficult to work, travel, or send children to school; traders warn that continued instability could cut off a vital economic link between the two countries.
The violence comes only days after the Afghan Taliban said that their problems with Pakistan could be settled through diplomacy. That hasn’t prevented fresh trouble. The two former allies have grown more hostile over militancy. Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering militants who stage attacks across the border. Pakistan’s foreign ministry said earlier this month that attacks launched from Afghan territory have increased, and that groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Balochistan Liberation Army have found safe havens there. The Taliban government rejects the charge. It says militancy is Pakistan’s own domestic problem.
The fighting between the two Muslim neighbors has killed hundreds of people this year, deepening tensions along a border both sides have long disputed. Border clashes flared again in February, when Pakistan began a military operation it called Ghazab lil-Haq, while mortar fire from across the border also injured civilians and damaged homes in South Waziristan in late April, according to local authorities.
Both governments have so far kept their positions, with Pakistan insisting it is defending its people from cross-border attacks and Kabul maintaining that the militants are not its responsibility. The standoff has left little room for compromise, as each side blames the other for the violence and neither appears willing to take steps that could be seen as conceding ground.
