Illustrative image. (Pakistani Air Force)
Pakistan announced on August 29 that it targeted militant hideouts in Afghanistan following multiple “terrorist” incidents on its soil.
In a post to X, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that a “well planned” intelligence-based ground operation was carried out by security forces along the Pakistan-Afghan border, followed by calibrated strikes in the border region against hideouts and “safe havens” of terrorists, killing at least 29 militants.
The strikes came in response to an attack by militants that targeted a security facility in the southern port city of Karachi a day earlier.
Three Pakistani paramilitary troops and three militants were killed in the attack. One militant was also captured after getting injured.
Jamaat ul Ahrar, a splinter faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the deadly attack soon after.
According to Tarar, the Pakistani retaliatory operation targeted “a group of terrorists” near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the Bajaur district in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on June 28.
As a result of “precise and skillful” engagement, high-value militant commander Khan Farosh, aka Zabal, along with three terrorists belonging to Jamaat ul Ahrar, were killed, while several others were injured, the minister said .
“Based on credible intelligence, three targets in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces were also destroyed during “precision strikes,” killing 25 “terrorists,” Tarar claimed, noting that quantities of weapons and ammunition stored at the hideouts were also destroyed.
“Pakistan has always strived for maintaining peace and stability in the region, but at the same time shall not compromise on the safety and security of our citizens, which remains our top priority,” he added.
Meanwhile, Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesperson for the Taliban-led Afghan government, rejected Pakistan’s claim, saying the strikes killed 36 civilians, including women and children, while 163 others sustained injuries.
Most of the casualties were reported from Chamkani district of Paktia, where 30 people were killed and 158 others were injured in the airstrikes,” Fitrat said in a post on X, adding that three residential houses were completely destroyed, he added.
“Last night, the Pakistani military once again carried out airstrikes on civilian areas in the Gayan District of Paktika Province, Tsamkani District of Paktia Province, and the Manogai District of Kunar Province, Afghanistan,” Zabihullah Mujahid, an Afghan government spokesman, earlier wrote on X.
“We strongly condemn this cowardly act of aggression and consider it a crime and an act of brutality,” he added.
Despite sharing historic ties, Pakistan and the Taliban have fallen out since the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2020.
Several rounds of deadly clashes took place along the 2,611km-long border, known as the Durand Line, which Afghanistan has not formally recognized, over the past year, and Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of backing the TTP, or the Pakistani Taliban.
Another factor that contributed to recent escalation was a rapprochement between Afghanistan and India, a long time rival of Pakistan.
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