Pakistan claims destroying Afghan tanks as border clashes escalate
Pakistani forces repelled “unprovoked fire” from Afghan troops in a remote northwestern border region on Tuesday and damaged Afghan tanks and military posts, state media reported.
The Pakistani army said that the Kurram border point in the northwest of the country was the target of heavy shooting and attacks by the Afghan Taliban and Pakistani Taliban fighters, which immediately led to countermeasures by Pakistani forces.
The army also said that it destroyed six Afghan Taliban tanks and their occupants, plus a large Pakistani Taliban training facility, releasing images to support its account of the strikes inside Afghanistan.
Tahir Ahrar, deputy police spokesperson in Afghanistan’s Khost province, confirmed the clashes but did not provide further details.
This marks the second exchange of fire between the two sides within a week along their long shared border.
The previous round of fighting involved exchanges of fire across multiple border regions, resulting in dozens of casualties on both sides.
Over the weekend, Kabul said that it targeted several Pakistani military posts and killed 58 soldiers in retaliation for what it called repeated violations of Afghan territory and airspace.
Pakistan’s military reported lower figures, saying it lost 23 soldiers and killed more than 200 “Taliban and affiliated terrorists” in retaliatory fire along the frontier.
Pakistan has repeatedly launched strikes into Afghanistan, asserting they target Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP hideouts—a group it accuses the Afghan government of harboring, which Kabul firmly denies.
Border hostilities erupted after Thursday’s explosions in Afghanistan, which the Taliban blamed on Pakistan, representing the sharpest escalation in months of strained relations over Islamabad’s allegations that Afghanistan is harboring armed groups behind attacks inside Pakistan.
Afghan Taliban officials initially downplayed the incident, reporting no casualties or damage, while regional sources reported the strikes may have killed Noor Wali Mehsud, the elusive chief of the TTP.
Pakistan has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations.
On Friday, the Pakistani military issued a warning that Islamabad’s patience was wearing thin with the Taliban administration in neighboring Afghanistan, citing an escalation in militant attacks along the border.
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