Pakistan launches ground attack and claims to have killed 29 Afghan militants on the border; Kabul says there are civilians among the victims

Afghan Taliban fighters patrol near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, in October 2025
REUTERS/Stringer
Pakistan security forces carried out, this Sunday (28), a ground operation along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, followed by "calibrated attacks" against militant hideouts and refuges, resulting in the deaths of 29 fighters, according to authorities.
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In a post on the social network Authorities attribute most of the violence to the Pakistani Taliban - known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) - and allied militant groups.
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The action comes a day after militants armed with firearms and explosives attacked the regional headquarters of the Rangers paramilitary force in the southern port city of Karachi, killing three soldiers. Security forces shot down three of the attackers and arrested a fourth, identified by the military as a wounded Afghan national.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack in Karachi in a statement released on Saturday night.
Tarar said Pakistan's most recent operation on the Afghan border targeted Taliban hideouts and refuges Pakistani.
The Pakistani Taliban is a militant group distinct from the Afghan Taliban, although both are allies. The Afghan Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.
These recent operations are likely to further aggravate already tense relations between Islamabad and Kabul.
Border under tension
Sunday's cross-border attacks and ground operation came less than three weeks after the Pakistani military launched airstrikes on what it described as militant hideouts in Afghanistan.
These actions ended a period of about a month of relative calm, which followed what Islamabad had classified as an "open war" between the two neighboring countries, despite international efforts to broker a lasting peace.
The escalation comes after months of military actions of mutual retaliation between the two countries. Hundreds of people have died in cross-border clashes since February, when Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikes after Pakistan carried out aerial bombings on Afghan territory.
Several rounds of internationally mediated peace talks have failed to establish a lasting ceasefire.
China also hosted meetings between the two sides in April; Beijing subsequently reported that Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed not to escalate the conflict and to seek a solution.
Since last year, Pakistan has carried out several attacks along the border and inside Afghanistan, targeting alleged hideouts of the TTP and other militants.
Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban government of harboring militants carrying out lethal attacks on Pakistani territory, especially the TTP. Kabul denies the accusation.

Source: G1