A Pakistani paramilitary soldier stands guard near the site of an attack in Karachi, Pakistan. (Photo: AP) Pakistani security forces have struck militant hideouts along the Afghanistan border, killing 29 fighters in a combined ground and air operation, officials said Sunday the latest move in an escalating cycle of cross-border violence between the two neighbouring countries.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced the operation on X, saying it was a direct response to a string of militant attacks inside Pakistan. Afghanistan had not issued any response at the time of reporting, according to the Associated Press (AP).
The strikes targeted positions used by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan the Pakistani Taliban, known as the TTP which Islamabad holds responsible for most of the militant violence that has gripped the country in recent years.
Attack on Karachi Sparked the Latest Response
The operation followed an assault on Saturday in which gunmen and bombers struck the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Rangers in the southern port city of Karachi, killing three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and detained a fourth, identified by the military as a wounded Afghan national.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the TTP, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack on Saturday night, the AP reported.
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Pakistan and the TTP are a separate organisation from Afghanistan’s ruling Afghan Taliban, though the two maintain an alliance. The Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
Months of Cross-Border Fighting
Sunday’s operation came fewer than three weeks after Pakistan’s military launched a separate round of air strikes on what it described as militant positions inside Afghan territory strikes that had ended roughly a month of relative calm following a period Islamabad itself characterised as open conflict between the neighbours.
Hundreds of people have been killed in cross-border fighting since February, when Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikes following Pakistani air raids inside its territory, the AP reported.
Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to break the deadlock. Several internationally mediated rounds of talks have produced no lasting ceasefire. China hosted both sides in April, and Beijing said afterwards that the two countries had agreed not to escalate further and to explore a negotiated solution. Fighting has continued regardless.
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Pakistan has carried out multiple strikes along the border and inside Afghanistan since last year, saying the operations target TTP networks and allied militant groups. Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering fighters responsible for attacks on Pakistani soil. The Afghan Taliban government denies the charge.
Sunday’s operation is expected to deepen an already fractured relationship between the two governments.