Afghanistan has condemned an alleged rocket firing by the Pakistani army on its soil resulting in civilian casualties and damage to their houses.
In a statement released late on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said the rockets were fired on eastern Kunar province, along a disputed border that Pakistan is fencing since mid-2017.
A police spokesman in the province said at least four civilians were killed and nine others, including women and children, were wounded in the rocket firings on Wednesday. Two houses were also damaged.
Kabul called on Islamabad to refrain from "unacceptable" artillery attacks and arbitrary installations, as it can cause further escalations between the two countries.
A lawmaker from Kunar, Wazhma Safi, said if Pakistan continued to fire over the border, the issue would be discussed at the diplomatic level. She said she believes Taliban rebels, backed by Pakistan, were behind the attack on Afghan soil.
Afghan forces stationed there responded to the attacks, Abdul Ghani Musamem, a spokesman for the governor of Kunar province.
In Pakistan, police accused Afghan forces of initiating an exchange of fire a day earlier. Mamoond district police chief Shahzada Kaukab said a rocket fired from Afghan forces struck a home in the district on Tuesday, wounding a woman and damaging her home.
Mamoond district was once a haven for local rebel and Taliban fighters. Pakistan says the army has cleared the area in recent years, although violence persists. Rebels who were not killed have mostly fled across the rugged mountains into neighbouring Afghanistan.
The development comes as a fresh round of peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban are expected this month in the Qatari capital Doha. The so-called intra-Afghan talks were delayed due to postponement of a prisoner exchange between the sides agreed as part of a deal between the United States and the Taliban.
Under the February 29 signing of the US-Taliban peace agreement, the Afghan government is to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners and the Taliban are to release 1,000 Afghan national defence and security personnel.
