By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The armed forces carried out overnight airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, targeting terrorist hideouts and military infrastructure used by the Afghan Taliban and affiliated groups to stage attacks against Pakistani civilians, military officials and state media reported on Sunday.
The strikes are the latest action in Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, a campaign launched in late February after an unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban across the border. The operation continued Sunday even after Afghan Taliban forces launched rudimentary drones late on Friday, injuring at least four people, including two children.
State-run Pakistan Television, citing security sources, said the strikes hit “facilities used by the Afghan Taliban and affiliated terrorist groups to support attacks against Pakistani civilians.” The forces destroyed a technical support infrastructure and an equipment storage facility in Kandahar that had been used to facilitate cross-border terrorist activities, the report said.
In a separate strike, troops targeted a tunnel in the province that housed technical equipment belonging to the Fitna al-Khawarij — the government’s term for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. “Pakistan armed forces have successfully targeted military installations, including terrorist hideouts of Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij,” the television channel quoted security sources as saying. “Operations under Operation Ghazab lil-Haq will continue until attainment of objectives.”
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed the action in a post on X late Sunday, sharing what he described as footage of the strikes. “On night March 14/15, Pakistan Armed Forces targeted military installations, including terrorist hideouts of Afghan Taliban and Fitna al Khawarij,” Tarar wrote. “In these attacks, Pakistan’s forces also destroyed technical support infrastructure and equipment storage facility, in Kandahar, that was being used by Afghan Taliban and terrorists against innocent Pakistani civilians.”
Tarar emphasized that the engagements were precise. “The footage showed precision engagement by Pakistan on those installations and terrorist camps,” he said. “No civilian population or infrastructure was targeted as falsely propagated by Afghan regime officials and media.”
The minister provided a detailed tally of damage inflicted since the operation began. He said 684 Afghan Taliban personnel have been killed and more than 912 injured. Pakistani forces have destroyed 252 posts and captured and destroyed another 44, he added. A total of 229 tanks, armored vehicles and artillery guns have also been destroyed. Separately, 73 terrorist and terrorist support infrastructure locations across Afghanistan have been “effectively targeted by air,” Tarar said.
In a parallel ground action Sunday, Pakistani security forces destroyed a “terrorist jump-off point” at Afghanistan’s Badini Post, officials said. The target was struck using light and heavy weapons from the Pakistani side of the border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chitral district. Security sources said the post was “completely destroyed” with ground-based weapons and quadcopters.
The Afghan Taliban and associated militants “are facing heavy setbacks on every front following unprovoked aggression,” the sources added. “Operation Ghazab lil-Haq is ongoing and will continue until its objectives are achieved,” one security official told state media. The cross-border operation reflects Pakistan’s increasingly assertive response to Taliban-backed militancy spilling over from Afghan soil. Pakistani authorities have long accused the Afghan Taliban of sheltering TTP fighters who have carried out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, including in the northwest. Afghan officials have previously denied providing sanctuary and accused Pakistan of violating their territory, though no immediate comment from Kabul was reported Sunday on the latest strikes.
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