By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s security forces delivered an immediate and effective response to unprovoked firing by Afghan Taliban forces on multiple locations along the border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, inflicting heavy casualties on the Afghan side, officials said.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said late on Thursday that the Taliban regime had “miscalculated” by opening fire across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. “Taliban regime forces are being delivered punishment in Chitral, Khyber, Mohmand, Kurram and Bajaur sectors,” the ministry said in a post on X. Early reports confirmed heavy casualties on the Afghan side, with multiple posts and equipment destroyed, it added. “Pakistan will take all necessary measures to ensure its territorial integrity and the safety and security of its citizens.”
Geo News, citing security sources, reported that at least 22 personnel of the Afghan Taliban regime were killed in the retaliatory fire. The sources said Pakistani forces launched an operation named Ghazab-lil-haqq in response to the unprovoked action.
Security sources said Pakistani counter-attacks destroyed Taliban hideouts, forcing the khawarij – the term used by Pakistani authorities for militants of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan – to flee. Forces targeted and destroyed an Afghan Taliban check post opposite the Chitral sector and responded with full force in the Nawagai sector of Bajaur, Tirah area of Khyber, Mohmand district and Arandu sector in Chitral. Two Afghan posts were also destroyed across the border from Bajaur, the sources said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, writing on X, said the Afghan Taliban had carried out “provocative actions” along the border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “The enemy’s advances in Chitral, Mohmand, Kurram and Bajaur sectors were thwarted and heavy losses were inflicted on them,” he said, adding that initial reports indicated multiple checkposts and military equipment of the Afghan side had been destroyed. “Pakistan will not compromise on its territorial integrity, sovereignty and protection of its people. Any kind of aggression will be responded to effectively, immediately and with full force,” Chaudhry asserted.
Local sources in Landi Kotal said Afghan Taliban fired artillery shells at Pakistani border posts on Maro Sar and Shah Kot Sar in the Bazaar-Zakhakhel area. At least two mortar shells landed in open compounds near a residential area but caused no damage or casualties, they added. Cross-border firing began around 6 pm local time (1300 GMT) and continued into the night, prompting residents to take refuge in safer locations. Afghan Taliban had launched similar but unsuccessful attacks on the same areas – Wragha Sar, Maro Sar and Shahkot Sar – on Tuesday. Border security forces at the Torkham crossing were placed on high alert. The crossing has remained closed since Oct. 12 last year amid ongoing tensions between the two countries.
The latest clashes occurred less than a week after Pakistani airstrikes targeted seven terrorist camps and hideouts in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, killing more than 100 militants. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry told the Senate at the time that initial figures of more than 80 killed had been revised upward. The information ministry said those strikes were carried out in response to a series of terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, including a suicide bombing at an Imambargah in Islamabad and attacks in Bannu and Bajaur during the holy month of Ramadan. “Pakistan has conclusive evidence that these acts of terrorism were perpetrated by khawarij at the behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers,” the ministry said at the time.
Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry told a private news channel that Pakistan was taking all necessary measures to respond to the latest unprovoked actions by the Afghan Taliban. “No one will be allowed to take away Pakistan’s peace,” he said. Referring to Pakistan’s conflict with India in May, he asked: “What happened to India, which had armies, planes, and weapons?” Chaudhry condemned attacks on civilians, saying bomb blasts in markets and mosques “cannot be tolerated at all”. “Pakistan will go to any extent for the safety and peace of its people,” he added, stressing that Afghanistan must, under all circumstances, become a peaceful neighbour.
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