(Bloomberg) -- Pakistan’s army on Sunday accused Afghan forces of opening “unprovoked and indiscriminate” artillery and mortar fire across the border into Pakistan’s southwestern Chaman region, killing six people and wounding 17 others.

The Pakistani side said it responded in a “measured” way, according to a statement from the army. Kabul’s Taliban government was approached to “highlight the severity of the situation” and the “uncalled for aggression,” the statement said.

Chaman is a key border crossing for trade between the countries.

Afghanistan’s TOLO news agency said violence broke out Sunday along the Durand Line, the disputed land border between the two countries, but “there are no details about the motive of the clashes.” One Afghan was killed and 10 others hurt, Haji Zaid, a spokesman for Kandahar’s governor, told TOLO. 

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said several thousand militants inside Afghanistan were carrying out attacks on the border. 

Deadly terrorist attacks in Pakistan increased to the highest level in more than four years after the Taliban took power last year. According to the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, militant violence spiked by 22% in the first ten months of this year compared with the same period in 2021. 

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