Pakistan Says 29 Militants Killed in Border Operation Near Afghanistan

Pakistan Says 29 Militants Killed in Border Operation Near Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD, June 29 [VoM News]: Pakistani security forces claimed Sunday that they had killed 29 militants in a ground operation and “calibrated strikes” after the operation at suspected hide-outs on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar said the operation had been launched after the TTP claimed attacks last month at targets across the country and after the “calibrated strikes” hit camps suspected to be occupied by elements of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. Kabul did not immediately respond.

Earlier Saturday, at least three Pakistani soldiers were killed in an attack on the headquarters of the Rangers paramilitary force in Karachi by militants belonging to an faction linked to the TTP and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for that attack in a social media post.

Pakistani forces claimed to have killed three attackers and wounded a fourth, captured militant, identified by the army as an Afghan citizen.

However, many Pakistanis continue to see the ongoing cross-border tension as a threat and the raids come days after Pakistan alleged Afghan Taliban fighters helped launch raids in Pakistan, stoking diplomatic tensions between the two neighbours who share a volatile border.

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Pakistani leaders, while asserting that the Taliban in Kabul must control the border territory which they share, say militants are coming across with impunity to conduct attacks on their soil.

A spokesperson for the Afghan Interior Ministry denied last week that the Afghan Taliban provide support to TTP fighters carrying out cross-border raids in Pakistan.

The two countries – whose relationship has often been fraught and marked by a long history of suspicion and mistrust – have had months of exchanges, and border clashes between soldiers of the two countries continue despite many attempts at reaching detente.