Pakistan carries out strikes against terrorist targets on Afghan border

Pakistan has said it carried out strikes along the Afghanistan border to target terrorists it blames for recent attacks.

Pakistani forces reportedly carried out air strikes in several areas of eastern and southeastern Afghanistan on Sunday, according to Afghan local media and the Pakistani Ministry of Information.

Islamabad did not say precisely in which areas the strikes were carried out or provide details but cited three terrorist attacks since the start of Ramadan last week in Pakistan as the reason for carrying out the strikes.

In comments before dawn Sunday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X that the military conducted what he described as “intelligence-based, selective operations” against seven camps belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and its affiliates.

He said an affiliate of the Daesh group was also targeted in the border region.

In October, Pakistan also conducted strikes deep inside Afghanistan to target terrorist hideouts.

“Pakistan expects and reiterates the Interim Afghan Government to fulfil its obligations and deny use of its soil by Khwarij and terrorists against Pakistan, as the safety and security of people of Pakistan comes first and foremost,” the ministry added.

The strikes came in the aftermath of recent suicide bombing incidents in Pakistan, it said.

“Sources told TOLO News that following the air strikes in Khogyani district, Nangarhar province, Pakistani forces also carried out strikes in the province’s Ghani Khel district, Nangarhar province, and Behsud district, Nangarhar province,” the Afghan news channel TOLO News wrote on X.

Afghanistan vows ‘appropriate, measured response’

The Defence Ministry of Afghanistan said on Sunday it would meet the Pakistani strikes on its soil with an “appropriate and measured response” at a “suitable time.”

The ministry condemned the attacks "in the strongest possible terms" on US social media company X, describing them as a clear violation of national sovereignty, international law, principles of good neighborliness and Islamic values.

It said targeting civilian and religious centres demonstrates the Pakistani military’s intelligence and security shortcomings, and "such repeated acts of aggression will never be able to conceal their internal shortcomings.

Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid posted on X that Pakistan bombed Nangarhar and Paktika provinces but alleged that casualties were civilians, even though he did not specify the number or nature of casualties.

No confirmed information has been released so far regarding possible casualties.

Pakistan vowed to avenge the killing of two security personnel on Saturday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the suicide bombing in a mosque in Islamabad two weeks ago, warning that it would not allow any attack launched from Afghanistan to go unanswered.

Pakistan has accused neighbouring Afghanistan of sheltering TTP terrorists and of being responsible for a surge in cross-border attacks, a claim which Afghanistan denied.

The Pakistani government has urged the Afghan government to dismantle the alleged sanctuaries of the TTP terrorist group inside Afghanistan.

According to Pakistani military officials, more than 500 people, including over 311 soldiers, were killed in attacks, largely carried out by the TTP, last year.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry also summoned on Friday an Afghan diplomat over a recent terrorist attack in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the Afghan border that killed 11 soldiers.

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Source: TRT