PESHAWAR: The Afghan Taliban have attributed Tuesday`s cross-border firing to attempts by Pakistani forces to build a post close to the Durand Line.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Deputy Spokesman for the Emirate-i-Islamia Afghanistan Bilal Karimi said that `as a matter of principle`, construction of military installations or posts was not permissible in close proximity of the Durand Line.

But the Pakistani troops, he claimed, attempted to build a post close to the border and when `some people from the Emirate-i-Islamia` approached them to discuss the issue, `unfortunately, they were fired upon as a result of which there were casualties`.

`Subsequently, there was [an] exchange of fire between the two sides which possibly caused some casualties on the other side as well,` he said.

Mr Karimi`s remarks follow a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media af fairs wing of Pakistan military, soon af ter the incident on Tuesday. The ISPR said that three Pakistani soldiers embraced martyrdom in firing by `terrorists from inside Afghanistan` in the general area of Kharlachi, Kurram tribal district.

`As per credible intelligence reports, due to fire of [our] own troops, terrorists suffered heavy casualties,` it further said. `Pakistan strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against Pakistan and expects that Afghan government will not allow conduct of such activities in future,` the ISPR had said.

On Wednesday, Mr Karimi said the matter was under investigation and that they were in contact with the leadership to preempt the construction of posts in the nearby areasinfuture.

Separately, Zabiullah Mujahid denied that Jaish-eMohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar is in Afghanistan, Tolo News reported. It quoted media reports as saying Pakistan`s Foreign Ministry in a letter had asked the Afghan rulers to find and arrest Azhar.

`The leader of the Jaesh-e-Mohammad group is not here in Afghanistan. This is an organisation which could be in Pakistan. Anyway, he is not in Afghanistan and we have not been asked anything like this. We have heard about it in the news. Our reaction is that this is not true, Mujahid said.