Pakistan said on Saturday it had conducted “preemptive precision strikes” against militant camps along its border with Afghanistan, killing dozens of fighters, after a suicide attack killed seven of its soldiers during a fragile ceasefire.
The Pakistani government said the strikes thwarted multiple planned attacks and were a response to the activities of militant groups, including a vehicle-borne bombing in North Waziristan carried out by the Gul Bahadur group.
“Against Kharjis of Gul Bahadur Group, precision strikes were undertaken last night,” Minister of Information Attaulah Tarar said in a press statement, using a government term for terrorists. “In these precision strikes, a minimum of 60-70 Kharjis and their leadership have been sent to hell based on confirmed intelligence reports.”
Tarar said that prior to the strikes, security forces had countered several attempted attacks from Afghanistan during a 48-hour ceasefire, killing “more than 100 Kharjis” in initial responses. He dismissed all “speculations and assertions” that civilians were targeted as false and “meant to generate support for terrorist groups operating from inside Afghanistan.”
The ceasefire, announced on Wednesday after appeals from regional powers, had followed days of the deadliest clashes in years between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which involved fierce ground battles and cross-border Pakistani airstrikes that killed dozens and injured hundreds.
The truce was broken on Friday when a suicide attacker rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the wall of a fortified army camp in North Waziristan, security officials told Reuters. Two other militants were shot and killed as they tried to storm the facility. The attack killed seven Pakistani soldiers and wounded 13 others.
Tensions have escalated along the border after Islamabad demanded that Kabul rein in militant groups, such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which it says operate from safe havens in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers deny this charge and accuse Pakistan’s military of “stoking tension.”
On Thursday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan had “retaliated” after its patience with Afghanistan ran out but was ready for talks to resolve the conflict.
The recent flare-up was ignited by an airstrike in Kabul on 9 October that apparently targeted TTP leader Noor Wali Mehsud. According to Pakistani security officials, the strike hit an armoured Toyota Land Cruiser believed to be carrying Mehsud. Pakistan has not officially claimed responsibility for the airstrike, which was the first in Kabul since a U.S. drone strike killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2022.
On Thursday, Mehsud appeared in a video to prove he was still alive, claiming he was speaking from Pakistan.
In his statement on Saturday, Tarar asserted Pakistan’s right to self-defence. “Pakistan sincerely believes that path forward lies in resolving this complex issue of Indian-sponsored terrorism emanating from Afghan soil through talks and control of non-state actors by Afghan authorities,” he said.
“We shall not allow terrorists operating from inside Afghanistan to live in peace.”
