Afghan officials say a border clash with Pakistan has left at least one Afghan border guard dead and two wounded.
The skirmishes Thursday in the Spinbuldak area of southern Kandahar province lasted for about two hours, Afghan provincial police spokesman Ghorzang Afridi told VOA.
Afridi alleged a group of Taliban insurgents riding motorcycles tried to enter Afghanistan with the help of Pakistani forces, prompting Afghan border police to open fire, defeating the infiltration attempt.
Pakistani troops retaliated by shelling Afghan border posts, causing the casualties, said the spokesman, who added Afghan forces returned fire.
Pakistani military officials say they are trying to ascertain details about the incident.
The clash occurred as bilateral relations have deteriorated in recent months.
The Afghan border region is located opposite Pakistan's Chaman region, one of the two main crossings on the 2,600-kilometer-long porous frontier between the two countries.
Chaman is located in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan where Kabul alleges Taliban leaders and fighters have established sanctuaries, and are plotting attacks in Afghanistan. Islamabad rejects the charges.
The Pakistani province also hosts hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees and was the scene of an American drone strike last May that killed Taliban supreme leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, while he was reportedly returning from neighboring Iran.
