TORKHAM, Feb 27: Clashes near the key Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan resumed Friday, AFP journalists said, as the neighbours engaged in deadly fighting.
Violence overnight hit a camp for Afghans who had just crossed from Pakistan, with several people wounded.
After a lull in fighting, an AFP journalist on the Afghan side heard incoming shellfire from around 9:30 am (0500 GMT), before cross-border clashes resumed.
He saw Afghan soldiers heading towards the frontier, before being told to leave the area by the security forces.
A second AFP journalist said gunfire could be heard in the distance.
The Torkham crossing has remained open for Afghans returning en masse from Pakistan, despite the land border being largely shut since fighting between the neighbours in October.
The Omari camp that accommodates returnees near the crossing was hit by a mortar shell overnight, a Nangarhar provincial official said.
"Unfortunately seven of our refugees have been wounded, and the condition of one woman is serious," said Qureshi Badlun, Nangarhar's information chief.
Gander Khan, a 65-year-old returnee, described how "children, women, and old people were running".
"I saw blood, it wounded two or three children, and two or three women," he told AFP, standing in front of rows of tents.
Zarghon, a 44-year-old returnee who only gave one name, said two or three children went missing in the panic.
"Some have left their papers, and just escaped. They didn't even take their money, they didn't take their aid which they received. Because of fear, everyone left," he told AFP.
In the provincial capital Jalalabad, an AFP photographer saw several women who were wounded in Omari camp receiving treatment.
Afghan forces launched a border offensive against Pakistani troops late Thursday, in what the Taliban authorities said was retaliation for deadly Pakistani air strikes days earlier.
The outbreak of cross-border fighting was followed by Pakistan launching air strikes on the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the key city of Kandahar, which were heard by AFP journalists.
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