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Pakistan Reports Killing 29 Militants in Afghan Border Strikes
Pakistan carried out airstrikes and deployed ground troops into Afghan provinces on Sunday in response to a suicide bombing in Karachi a day earlier that killed three paramilitary soldiers along with three militants. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation targeted terrorist hideouts in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces and resulted in 29 militant deaths. Taliban officials condemned what they termed a “cowardly act” that they said struck civilian homes instead, reporting at least 100 people killed or wounded.
The strikes focused on areas where militants were allegedly planning further attacks inside Pakistan, according to officials in Islamabad. Tarar described the action as a direct reply to “recent terrorist attacks against innocent people.” Pakistani authorities have repeatedly accused Afghan territory of serving as a base for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan and its offshoots, an allegation the Taliban government has consistently denied.
Taliban spokesmen insisted the operation caused heavy civilian losses in Mandikhel village within Paktika province and called the incident a “crime and atrocity.” The group urged international intervention to halt further Pakistani incursions across the shared border. Neither side’s casualty accounts have been independently verified, as noted in multiple regional dispatches.
The immediate trigger was a suicide assault on the Sindh Rangers headquarters in Karachi, which Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a banned splinter faction of the Pakistan Taliban, claimed responsibility for. Pakistani forces arrested an additional suspect identified as Afghan in connection with the plot. Both Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and the TTP remain proscribed by Pakistan and the United Nations for their roles in past attacks.
According to Reuters, the core dispute stems from Islamabad’s demands that Kabul suppress TTP fighters it says operate from Afghan soil, a pressure that has intensified since the Taliban’s 2021 return to power. The 2,600-kilometre Durand Line border has seen repeated violations, with dozens killed in clashes over the past year. An October 2025 ceasefire quickly unravelled, leading to renewed diplomatic efforts including talks hosted by Turkiye.
Similar escalations occurred in February 2026 when Afghan forces attacked Pakistani positions, prompting Pakistan to strike targets including in Kabul and to characterise the situation as “open war,” Al Jazeera reported. In one earlier episode that month, Pakistan claimed at least 70 fighters killed while Afghan accounts described civilian deaths including women and children. These cycles have disrupted trade and heightened security concerns along the frontier.
A separate June 2026 Pakistani operation killed 26 militants per Islamabad’s count but left 13 civilians dead, 11 of them children, according to Afghan officials cited by Al Jazeera. The latest strikes follow the same pattern of retaliation tied to northwest Pakistan attacks. Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has indicated further measures could follow if militant threats persist.
