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The Afghanistan Cricket Board says three players were among the dead as violence continues despite a prolonged ceasefire.
Pakistan has launched airstrikes inside Afghanistan, killing at least 10 people and maiming one cease fire which had brought two days of relative calm to the border after an intense period of bloodshed, Afghan officials said.
The truce of 48 hours stopped almost a week from bloody border clashes which killed dozens of soldiers and civilians on both sides.
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“Pakistan broke the ceasefire and shelled three locations in Paktika province” late Friday, a senior Taliban official told AFP news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Afghanistan will retaliate.”
Ten civilians were killed and 12 others wounded in the attacks, a provincial hospital official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that two children were among the dead.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board said in a statement that three players who were in the region for a tournament were killed along with five others “in a cowardly attack carried out by the Pakistani regime” and said seven others were injured.
The ACB said in a social media post on Saturday that the cricketers were “targeted in an encounter” in Urgun district when they returned home after playing a friendly cricket match in Sharana, the capital of Paktika province.
“The ACB considers this a great loss to the sports community of Afghanistan, its athletes and the cricket family,” the ACB said.
He also said he was pulling out of the upcoming Tri-Nation T20I series involving Pakistan, scheduled for next month.
In Pakistan, a senior security official told AFP that forces “carried out precision airstrikes” in the Afghan border areas against the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, a local faction linked to the Pakistani Taliban (TTP).
Islamabad said the same group had been involved in a suicide bombing and gun attack on a military camp in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas district that borders Afghanistan, killing seven Pakistani paramilitaries.
Security issues are at the center of tensions, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of harboring armed groups led by the Pakistani Taliban, known by its acronym TTP, on its soil, a claim Kabul denies.
Cross-border violence has risen sharply since last Saturday, days after explosions rocked the Afghan capital, Kabul, just as the Taliban’s foreign minister began an unprecedented visit to Pakistan’s arch-rival India.
The Taliban then launched an offensive along parts of its southern border with Pakistan, prompting Islamabad to say it would launch a strong response of its own.
When the truce began at 1300 GMT on Wednesday, Islamabad said it would last for 48 hours, but Kabul said the ceasefire would remain in place until Pakistan violated it.
Before the latest attacks, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said 37 people had been killed and 425 wounded on the Afghan side of the border, calling on both sides to end hostilities.
In Spin Boldak, scene of intense fighting, hundreds of people attended the funerals this Thursday, including those of children whose bodies were wrapped in white shrouds.
“People have mixed feelings,” Nematullah, 42, told AFP. “They fear that the fighting will resume, but they still leave their homes and go about their business.”
But earlier Friday, residents described scenes as normal.
“Everything is fine, everything is open,” Nani, 35, told AFP.
“I’m not afraid, but everyone sees things differently. There are those who say they are going to send their children somewhere else because the situation is not good, but I don’t think anything will happen,” said Nani, who did not give his last name.
