A minimum of 15 Pakistani troops were killed in Helmand province in Afghanistan after the Taliban launched an attack following recent Pakistani airstrikes within Afghan borders, including the capital city of Kabul, Afghan officials said.
Mawlawi Mohammad Qasim Riaz, a provincial government spokesperson, confirmed 15 Pakistani soldiers were killed in the overnight counter-operations by Afghan forces along the Durand Line in the Bahrampur district. He also mentioned that Afghan troops took three Pakistani military posts, and weapons and ammunition were seized during the attack.
The Afghan forces led by the Taliban have attacked Pakistani border outposts in Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul, Paktika, Paktia, Khost, Nangarhar, and Kunar provinces — all along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border — in response to Pakistan's previous airstrikes in Kabul and Paktika.
Three blasts were reported in Afghanistan on Thursday — two in Kabul and one in Paktika. Afghanistan's defence ministry, led by the Taliban, accused Pakistan of breaching the sovereignty of Afghanistan.
"In retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul, Taliban forces are engaged in heavy clashes against Pakistani security forces in various areas," the Afghan military said in a statement.
The defence ministry spokesman Enayat Khowarazm later informed AFP that the operations were "successful" and wrapped up at midnight.
"If the opposing side violates Afghanistan's territory again, our armed forces are ready to defend their territory and will respond firmly," he warned.
While Islamabad did not directly acknowledge responsibility for the attacks on Thursday, it called on Kabul "to stop harbouring the Pakistani Taliban on its soil."
The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban, has ideological affinity with the Afghan Taliban and had been backing it in the 2001–2021 war. The TTP has been accused by Islamabad of killing hundreds of Pakistani soldiers since 2021.
"This evening, Taliban forces began using weapons. We fired first light and then heavy artillery at four points along the border," a senior official in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province told AFP.
"Pakistani forces responded with heavy fire and shot down three Afghan quadcopters suspected of carrying explosives. Intense fighting continues, but so far, no casualties have been reported," he added.
TTP fighters have increased attacks on Pakistani security personnel in Afghanistan's bordering mountainous regions in recent months. Islamabad blamed the Taliban administration for not stopping militants from employing Afghan soil to carry out cross-border attacks — a claim denied by Kabul.
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