Pakistan has closed all major border crossings with Afghanistan following an exchange of gunfire between the two countries’ forces.

According to Pakistani officials, Afghan troops opened fire on a Pakistani border outpost late Saturday (October 11). Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense said the attack was carried out in retaliation for an earlier Pakistani airstrike earlier in the week.

In response, Pakistani forces launched heavy shelling and gunfire, reportedly destroying several Afghan border posts, security officials claimed.

Although the situation calmed slightly by Sunday morning, sporadic gunfire continued in Pakistan’s Kurram district, according to local authorities and residents.

The key border crossings at Torkham and Chaman were closed on Sunday, along with three smaller routes at Kharlachi, Angoor Adda, and Ghulam Khan.

Kabul has yet to comment officially on the closure. On Saturday night, the Afghan defense ministry said its military operation had ended at midnight. Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid stated Sunday that there was “no threat in any part of Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan, a landlocked country, shares a roughly 2,600-kilometer-long border with Pakistan. Islamabad has long accused the Taliban administration of sheltering anti-Pakistan militants—an allegation Kabul continues to deny.

A Pakistani security official said the recent airstrikes targeted a top leader of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Kabul. It remains unclear whether the militant commander was killed.

The TTP has been waging an insurgency to overthrow Pakistan’s government and establish a hardline Islamist rule. The group maintains close ties with the Afghan Taliban.