Regional allies on Friday called on Pakistan and Afghanistan to implement an immediate ceasefire after deadly clashes erupted between their border forces, leaving multiple casualties on both sides.
The clashes broke out overnight at several point along their more than 2,500-kilometre porous frontier, just days after Pakistani fighter jets targeted Islamist militants blamed for deadly cross-border attacks from their Afghan hideouts.
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran have offered to mediate, officials in Islamabad and Kabul said.
Russia, a regional power with influence over both the countries, also called for initiating immediate talks to end the conflict and resolve the dispute through dialogue, according to a statement by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
But there were little hopes of rapprochement after Pakistani jets targets military installation a deep in Afghanistan as capital Kabul and at least three other provinces.
Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif threatened the Afghan Taliban regime of harbouring "all sorts of terrorists" including those behind a deadly wave of cross-border attacks from their alleged Afghan hideouts.
"Our patience has run out. It's an open war now," Asif said in a post on X.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said overnight clashes had left more than 130 Taliban fighters dead while two Pakistani soldiers were killed.
Pakistani jets targeted a facility in Kabul where the Taliban had dumped arms and ammunition left behind the United States forces before leaving Afghanistan in 2021 abrupt withdrawal, an intelligence source told dpa.
In Kabul, Taliban spokesman claimed more than 50 Pakistani soldiers were killed by the militia's fighters in their cross-border attacks.
The claims by both the sides could not be independently verified.
The latest attacks come after months of escalating tension and cross-border skirmishes.
In October last year, several dozen soldiers and civilians were killed in a week of clashes before a ceasefire was brokered jointly by Qatar and Turkey.
