Afghans who recently returned from Pakistan and residents near a key crossing expressed their fears of deadly border clashes on Friday, as smoke billowed from the mountains.
AFP journalists heard shellfire and gunfire in Torkham, with Afghan soldiers heading towards the frontier after overnight bombardment by Pakistan, in a major escalation following months of tit-for-tat clashes.
Fighting overnight hit a camp for Afghans who had just crossed from Pakistan, killing one and wounding several others, according to a provincial health official.
Gander Khan, a 65-year-old returnee, described how "children, women and old people were running".
"I saw blood. It wounded two or three children and two or three women," he told AFP, standing in front of rows of tents.
The Torkham crossing has remained open for Afghans returning en masse from Pakistan, despite the land border being otherwise largely shut since fighting between the neighbours in October.
The Omari camp accommodates returnees near the crossing and was hit by a mortar shell overnight, Nangarhar provincial official Qureshi Badlun said.
Zarghon, a 44-year-old returnee who only gave one name, said two or three children went missing in the panic.
"Some have left their papers, and just escaped. They didn't even take their money, they didn't take their aid which they received. Because of fear, everyone left," he told AFP.
In the provincial capital Jalalabad, an AFP photographer saw several women who were wounded in Omari camp receiving treatment.
Naqibullah Rahimi, Nangarhar's public health spokesman, said nine women and five men had been hospitalized.
"A woman, among others wounded, passed away after she was brought to the hospital," he told AFP.
Back near the border, returnees sat in the open air after fleeing the violence.
A ground offensive was launched by Afghan forces late Thursday, in what the Taliban authorities said was retaliation for deadly Pakistani airstrikes days earlier.
The outbreak of cross-border fighting was followed by Pakistan launching airstrikes on the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the key city of Kandahar, which were heard by AFP journalists.
On a Torkham roadside, resident Waqas Shinwari indicated shells being fired in the distance.
"There should be peace and reconciliation on both sides, because people are in great suffering," he told AFP.
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said it had "temporarily paused operations" at Omari camp as it assesses the situation.
"Reports of a mortar impact last night... underscore the urgent need for safety, restraint, and international protection for vulnerable populations," the agency said in a statement.
Although returnees have been able to cross the frontier in recent months, the broader closure has hit Torkham residents hard.
Muhammad Kareem said he and every neighbour "earns a living because of this border".
"If there is peace on this border, we can have a life. But if there is no peace on the border, then we will leave," he told AFP.
