Pak Army responded to Afghan Taliban fire along border: security forces

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army responded on Tuesday to what security sources described as unprovoked aggression by the Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Security sources said operations under Operation Ghazab Lil Haq were continuing in response to the Afghan Taliban’s actions. Fitna al-Khawarij is the term used by the state for militants belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

"The Pakistan Army, in the Chaman sector, effectively targeted and destroyed multiple Afghan Taliban posts. Afghan Taliban positions at Sarshan, Al-Marjan, Edhi Post, a vehicle and other installations were also successfully targeted,"according to the security sources.

The same sources said the armed forces remained firm in their resolve to defend the country and added that the plans of terrorists and their facilitators would be thwarted. They further said Operation Ghazab Lil Haq would continue until all assigned objectives were achieved.

Recent border incident in Bajaur

On April 15, three civilians, including two children, were martyred and three others were injured when Afghan Taliban forces carried out what state media described as unprovoked shelling on residents in a border area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district.

The incident marked another episode of cross-border aggression after a gap of more than a month following Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, which had been launched in response to earlier hostility from the Afghan side.

Background to Operation Ghazab Lil Haq

Operation Ghazab Lil Haq was launched around the end of February after renewed clashes erupted along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Afghan Taliban forces had fired on multiple locations, prompting a swift military response from Pakistan.

The two neighbouring countries have since been involved in rising tensions along the frontier. The clashes intensified after Afghanistan launched a border offensive in response to Pakistani air strikes that targeted militant positions, and the situation later eased during a temporary Eidul Fitr ceasefire.

The latest tensions followed a series of retaliatory actions over the past year. Pakistan had earlier carried out air strikes against camps of the TTP and Islamic State Khorasan Province inside Afghanistan after a string of attacks in Pakistan, including a suicide bombing in Islamabad.

Islamabad has consistently maintained that TTP leaders operate from Afghan territory, an allegation that Kabul has repeatedly denied.

Tensions also increased after a series of explosions in Kabul on October 9 last year. Taliban forces later targeted areas along Pakistan’s border, after which Islamabad responded with cross-border shelling. Those exchanges caused casualties and damage to infrastructure on both sides and resulted in the suspension of trade after border crossings were closed on October 12, 2025.