Islamabad, Sep 25: Pakistani security forces killed several Afghan Taliban fighters after they allegedly attempted to enter Pakistan and opened hostilities along the border in Balochistan province, state-run media reported on Friday.
The development comes after Pakistan conducted aerial and drone strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan on Thursday.
Afghanistan’s Taliban government said the strikes killed four civilians.
The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), citing security sources, said Afghan Taliban fighters attempted to enter Pakistani territory in Balochistan’s Gulistan sector on Thursday and carry out an “act of aggression”.
Pakistani forces retaliated, killing several Afghan Taliban fighters, the report said, adding that intermittent exchanges of fire continued after midnight.
Pakistan on Friday also rejected a claim by Afghanistan that its forces destroyed a Pakistani border post in the latest clashes.
The claims about the casualties and the circumstances leading to the latest border clash could not be independently verified.
There was no immediate detailed statement from the Afghan Taliban on the Gulistan clash.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes on Thursday were carried out after drones entered Pakistan from Afghan territory on Wednesday.
“In exercise of its sovereign right to self-defence, Pakistan conducted precision aerial and drone strikes against 10 locations in Afghanistan used for launching and storing these drones,” Tarar said.
He said the strikes were “deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate” and “strictly limited to identified military objectives directly linked to the attempted attacks against Pakistan”.
Tarar described the alleged drone incursion as a “blatant violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and a “grave and unacceptable act of aggression”.
Pakistan on Wednesday said its forces had shot down eight drones — four near the Torkham border and four near Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Afghanistan denied involvement in the drone attacks and strongly condemned the Pakistani strikes.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in a social media post on Thursday, said four Afghan civilians were killed in the strikes.
He said Kabul would respond with a “firm stance and an appropriate response” and warned that such actions would have “dire consequences” for the Pakistani military.
The latest escalation follows Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan on September 21, which Islamabad said targeted camps and hideouts of militants belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Pakistan’s Information Ministry said 28 militants, including several suicide bombers, were killed in the strikes. Afghan authorities disputed the account, saying at least three civilians were killed and four others wounded in villages in Afghan territory.
The Taliban government condemned the Pakistani action and summoned Islamabad’s charge d’affaires in protest.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban administration in Kabul of allowing the TTP and allied militant groups to use Afghan territory to plan and carry out attacks inside Pakistan.
The Afghan Taliban has rejected Pakistan’s allegations that it allows its territory to be used for attacks against neighbouring countries.
Pakistan says its latest military actions are part of its ongoing counter-terrorism campaign, “Ghazab lil Haq”, launched in February. (PTI)
