PESHAWAR: Pakistan said on Sunday 23 of its soldiers were killed and 29 wounded in overnight cross-border clashes with Afghan Taliban fighters, as the Foreign Ministry accused Kabul’s forces of “unwarranted aggression” and warned that any further provocations would face a “befitting response.”
The fighting erupted along the Pak-Afghan border late on Oct. 11 and continued into the early hours of Oct. 12, when what Pakistan described as Taliban-led and India-backed militants launched coordinated attacks on military posts. Pakistani forces said they repelled the assault “decisively,” using precision air and ground strikes against Taliban positions and militant training camps inside Afghan territory. Kabul denies it harbors militants that attack Pakistan and New Delhi has also repeatedly rejected claims it backs anti-Pakistan groups.
According to Pakistan’s military, more than 200 Taliban and allied fighters were killed in the counterattack, and 21 hostile positions were briefly captured on the Afghan side. The army said multiple camps “used to plan and facilitate attacks against Pakistan” were destroyed, while “all possible measures were taken to avoid collateral damage.”
Afghan officials gave a sharply different account, claiming that 58 Pakistani soldiers were killed in overnight border operations in response to what it said were repeated violations of its territory and airspace.
