ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army on Saturday strongly responded to unprovoked firing from the Afghan side along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, destroying multiple Afghan border posts, killing dozens of Afghan soldiers and Khawarij, and dispersing Khawarij formations, security sources said.
Precise strikes were also carried out on Daesh and Khawarij terrorist training camps and hideouts inside Afghanistan along the border, the sources said. Artillery, tanks, and both light and heavy weaponry, as well as aerial assets and drones were being used to target Daesh and Khawarij positions, the sources said.
This act of aggression from Afghanistan comes at a time when the Afghan acting foreign minister is visiting India.
Due to an effective and intense counterattack by Pakistani forces, several Afghan soldiers were killed, and Khawarij formations dispersed, security sources said, adding that Afghan posts failed to provide cover fire to Khawarij.
Reports indicate heavy losses to multiple Afghan posts and Khawarij formations, the sources said.
The sources further said hideouts of Khawarij and Daesh operating inside Afghanistan under the patronage of the interim Afghan government were being effectively targeted. “Pakistan is employing artillery, tanks, and both light and heavy weaponry. In addition, aerial assets and drones are being used to target Daesh and Khawarij positions,” the sources said.
“Headquarters of Afghan forces that have been providing shelter to Daesh and Khawarij elements are also being targeted.”
Security sources said Afghan forces opened unprovoked fire at multiple locations along the Pak-Afghan border, including Angoor Adda, Bajaur, Kurram, Dir, Chitral, and Baramcha (Balochistan). “The firing was also aimed at facilitating the crossing of Khawarij formations across the border,” the sources said, adding that alert and vigilant posts of the Pakistan Army responded swiftly with a strong and intense counterattack, which was continue late into night.
Due to Pakistan’s timely action, multiple Afghan border posts were destroyed, and dozens of Afghan soldiers and Khawarij were killed. Taliban abandoned several of their posts and fled, bodies were scattered, the sources said.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi strongly condemned the incidents of unprovoked firing by Afghan forces on Pakistani areas, Geo News reported.
In a statement, the interior minister said firing by Afghan forces on civilian populations is a blatant violation of international law, and Pakistan’s brave forces have demonstrated -- by giving an immediate and effective response -- that any provocation will not be tolerated.
He said Pakistan’s forces are vigilant and Afghanistan is being given a forceful response. He added that the pattern of the “fire-and-blood campaign being waged by Afghanistan appears to be linked to our eternal enemy”.
Naqvi said the people of Pakistan stand with the valiant armed forces like a wall of steel, and Afghanistan will be given a crushing response similar to India’s so that it will not dare cast an ill eye towards Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the Afghan military claimed in a statement that “in retaliation for the air strikes by Pakistani forces”, Taliban border forces in the east “engaged in heavy clashes against Pakistani forces’ posts in various border areas,” AFP reported. Heavy clashes broke out late Saturday between Afghan and Pakistani security forces on the common border after Kabul accused Islamabad of carrying out air strikes on the capital, officials from both sides said, the news agency reported.
Iranian top diplomat Abbas Araghchi on Saturday called on the Islamic republic’s neighbours Afghanistan and Pakistan “to exercise restraint”. “Our position is that both sides must exercise restraint,” Araghchi said during a live interview with state television, adding that “stability” between the countries “contributes to regional stability”.
