Torkham, the main border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been closed with residents of the area reporting hearing gunfire near the normally bustling border transit point.

A Pakistani official told AFP the Torkham crossing, equidistant between Kabul and Islamabad, was shut late Sunday after Pakistani officials turned away a traveller accompanying a medical patient.

On Monday at 7:30 am Afghan time a "clash took place when Pakistani forces fired at Afghan forces", Afghan official Harfat Muhajir told AFP.

"Afghan forces shot in response, but nobody was hurt," he added.

A Taliban provincial information official said the Torkham border crossing, near the Khyber Pass, was closed for all trade and travellers.

"The Pakistan side hadn't committed to their promises, they have promised to create facilities for transit, sick people and passengers," said Siddiqullah Quraishi, the head of the Afghan province of Nangahar's information department, as the reason for the closure.

Neither side has made any official comment about the situation at Torkham so far.

Mohammad Ali Shinwari, a resident of Landi Kotalon the Pakistani side, said the border had been closed late on Sunday and gunfire erupted early on Monday.

"When we heard gunshots in the morning, we got worried and believed that troops of the two countries might have started fighting," he said.

Disputes linked to the 2,600km (1,615 miles) border have been a bone of contention between the Afghanistan and Pakistan for decades. The Torkham border point is the main point of transit for travellers and goods between Pakistan and landlocked Afghanistan.

Image source: Reuters