Pakistan’s military carried out strikes along the Afghan border early Sunday, with the country’s deputy interior minister claiming at least 70 militants were killed, a figure later revised upward to 80 by state media. Pakistan said the strikes targeted hideouts belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, known as the TTP, and its affiliates, including an affiliate of the Islamic State group. The operation came hours after a suicide bomber killed two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel, in a security convoy attack in the border district of Bannu.
Afghanistan’s government flatly rejected Pakistan’s account. The Afghan Defense Ministry said civilian areas in the provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika were hit, including a religious madrassa and multiple homes, and described the strikes as a violation of Afghan airspace and sovereignty. Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the attacks killed and wounded dozens, including women and children. A local tribal elder in Nangarhar told the Associated Press those killed were ordinary villagers living simple lives, not militants. The Afghan Red Crescent Society in Nangarhar put the death toll at 18, with several others wounded. Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul in protest.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari defended the strikes, saying they were rooted in Pakistan’s right to defend its people against terrorism after repeated warnings to Kabul went unheeded. Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the military had conclusive evidence that recent attacks inside Pakistan, including a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad that killed 31 worshippers earlier this month, were carried out by militants operating under Afghanistan-based leadership. Tarar also called on the international community to pressure Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to honor their commitments under the Doha agreement not to allow Afghan soil to be used to launch attacks against other countries.
Security analysts in Islamabad warned the strikes are likely to escalate tensions further, noting that Qatari, Turkish and Saudi-led mediations have so far failed to resolve the underlying issues between the two countries. A Qatari-mediated ceasefire had been in place following deadly border clashes in October, but several rounds of talks in Istanbul in November failed to produce a formal agreement and relations between Islamabad and Kabul remain strained.
