AFGHANISTAN’S government accused Pakistan’s military of shelling the outskirts of an eastern Afghan city, killing one person and wounding more than a dozen.

Afghan deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said that “mortars and other heavy weaponry” were used Sunday afternoon to strike rural areas and civilian homes on the outskirts of Asadabad in Kunar Province.

In a social media post Mr Fitrat said that preliminary figures indicated that one person had been killed and 16 others were wounded, mostly women and children. 

There was no immediate response from Pakistan to the accusations.

This is the latest episode of renewed fighting between the two neighbouring countries which erupted in late February, and has been the most severe between Afghanistan and Pakistan in decades.

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of providing a safe haven for militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, especially for the Pakistani Taliban. 

The group is separate but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 during the chaotic withdrawal of United States-led troops. Kabul denies the allegation.

The fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan has seen repeated cross-border clashes as well as air attacks inside Afghanistan, including several in the Afghan capital Kabul.