PESHAWAR: The border authorities of Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday formally agreed over ceasefire at Torkham and waved white flags on both sides of the border, reported a private TV channel, quoting sources.
The border authorities of both the sides met for a short meeting following which they waved white flags on their respective sides.
The construction work on Torkham gate also started following the ceasefire announcement.
Earlier in the day, an Afghan official said that renewed clashes at Pakistan-Afghan border crossing have killed an Afghan border guard and wounded five others, with Pakistan saying it has dispatched more troops and weapons to the volatile border amid an escalation in tension between the two neighbors.
Pakistan officials maintain that the unprovoked firing from Afghan forces is disrupting border management efforts by Pakistan Army.
Pakistani troops also fired heavy artillery at Afghan forces at their main Khyber Pass border crossing, the military said.
"When our people began construction work on the gate on Wednesday, Afghan forces again opened fire at our troops and construction workers," said a Pakistani security official who declined to be identified.
He said Pakistan had retaliated with long-range artillery and mortars. There was no word on any casualties.
The Pakistani military spokesman's office confirmed the Wednesday fighting.
Afghan officials, however, denied any fighting on Wednesday, but said an Afghan border guard was killed and five were wounded overnight on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear if the officials were talking about the same incident.
Foreign Office summoned the Afghan ambassador to demand that Afghanistan put an end to the "unprovoked firing" and to protest against the death of an army major, shot on the border in a clash this week.
By Wednesday, trucks carrying goods to Afghanistan had been stranded on the Pakistani side of the border for four days. A Reuters journalist at the scene said trucks lined the road all the way from Peshawar to the Torkham border.
Pakistan says the border gate it is building is well on its side of the border and will help stop militants from crossing and help fight drug trafficking.
Pakistan's foreign policy chief, Sartaj Aziz, expressed concern over what he called the Afghan army's attempts to "disrupt border management efforts" by Pakistan.
"Strengthening of management and facilitation of the movement of people and vehicles across the border is an important part of counter-terrorism effort and also for checking drug trafficking and other illegal activities," Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said in an official statement on Wednesday.
Aziz said that durable peace and stability across the border cannot be achieved without taking effective measures for strengthening border controls.
"Border management is aimed at addressing the common concern of infiltration and hence to enhance mutual security of both the countries and their peoples", he remarked, and added the two sides should resolve issues through dialogue.
Afghanistan objects to all Pakistani construction on a 2,200-km border it says was unfairly imposed by British colonialists in the 19th century and which it has never recognised.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been particularly strained in recent months over Afghan officials' anger at what they see as insincere efforts by Pakistan to help with peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.