Web Desk: Security forces carried out precision strikes and a coordinated ground operation along the Afghanistan border, targeting terrorist hideouts in response to a recent wave of deadly attacks inside the country, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said.
Officials said the operation, conducted overnight between June 28 and 29 under what authorities called Operation Ghazb-ul-Haq, targeted camps and safe havens belonging to outlawed groups in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces.
The strikes destroyed multiple terrorist positions, including weapons and ammunition stockpiles, while killing 29 terrorist, according to official statements.
The operation followed a series of attacks targeting civilians and security personnel in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, as well as a deadly assault on a Pakistan Rangers facility in Karachi earlier in the week.
In that attack, armed terrorist used guns and explosives to storm the paramilitary installation, martyring three soldiers. Security forces later killed three assailants and arrested another, whom officials identified as an injured Afghan national.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the Karachi assault.
Meanwhile, officials have repeatedly accused the TTP and allied groups of carrying out most attacks on Pakistani soil.
According to Tarar, Pakistan’s armed forces carried out coordinated strikes on three identified targets across Paktia, Paktika and Kunar, describing them as terrorist command centers and sanctuaries.
He said the operation specifically targeted networks linked to the TTP and associated factions, which Islamabad refers to as “Fitna al-Khwarij,” a term used for outlawed terrorist groups.
Furthermore, the information minister said security forces acted on credible intelligence to conduct the ground-based operation in parallel with aerial strikes.
The latest action comes less than three weeks after Pakistan conducted earlier airstrikes against suspected terrorist positions inside Afghanistan, following a brief period of relative calm between the two countries.
Hundreds of people have been killed since February in ongoing border-related violence.
Despite diplomatic efforts by regional and international actors to de-escalate tensions, sporadic clashes and targeted operations have continued along the porous border, underscoring the persistent security challenges facing both countries.
Read more: Arrested Militant Claims Afghan Origin, Links to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar
