PESHAWAR, Oct 17 (AFP): Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in a suicide attack near the Afghan border on Friday, Pakistani security officials said, amid a fragile ceasefire between Islamabad and Kabul that paused days of intense fighting between the former allies this month.
The South Asian neighbors engaged in fierce ground fighting, and Pakistan also launched airstrikes across their contested frontier, killing dozens and wounding hundreds, before they reached a 48-hour truce that is due to end at 1300 GMT on Friday.
The soldiers were killed in an attack by militants on a Pakistani military camp in north Waziristan, which also left 13 injured, five security officials said.
While one militant rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the boundary wall of a fort that served as a military camp, two others tried to get into the facility and were shot dead, they said.
Pakistan's army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Taliban government said Thursday that Pakistan had carried out two drone strikes on Kabul the previous day, just before the two neighbors announced a ceasefire following days of fighting that killed dozens in both countries and injured hundreds more.
The truce Wednesday brought at least a temporary halt to the deadliest clashes between the neighbors since 2021, when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan following the collapse of the Western-backed government as the US and NATO forces were withdrawing after 20 years of war.
There was no immediate response in Islamabad to the latest accusations from Kabul and it was not immediately clear how this would affect the ceasefire, which was welcomed Thursday by the United Nations as it urged both sides to bring a lasting end to hostilities.
Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss ongoing operations, had earlier told The Associated Press that Pakistani forces had targeted militant hideouts on Wednesday.
