Afghan Taliban arrested 200 TTP militants involved in attacks against Pakistan: report

KABUL: Islamabad’s efforts to counter cross-border attacks have borne fruits as interim Afghan rulers arrested 200 suspected militants involved in attacks against Pakistan, Voice of America (VOA) reported, citing Pakistani officials privy to the development.

The report said the Afghan rulers have also implemented other “concrete steps” to “neutralise” the terrorist activity. The details of the crackdown on the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were shared in bilateral talks they hosted last week in Kabul with a high-level delegation from Islamabad.

The talks took place after four soldiers embraced martyrdom while repulsing terrorist attacks on two Pakistan Army check posts located near the Afghanistan border in the general area Kalash, District Chitral, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on September 6.

“On 6 September 2023, a large group of terrorists equipped with the latest weapons, attacked two Pakistani military posts located closer to Pakistan Afghanistan border in general area Kalash, District Chitral,” a statement from the military’s media wing read.

During the fire exchange, 12 terrorists “were sent to hell”, while a large number of the militants were critically injured, as per the ISPR statement. The Afghan Taliban “arrested 200 TTP cadres returning from the Chitral attack. They are now behind bars,” VOA quoted an official as saying on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to publicly interact with the media. He added that de facto Afghan authorities were in the process of relocating other TTP members away from the border with Pakistan.