Pakistani forces strike Afghan Taliban’s military installations in Kabul, Nangarhar: security sources

BEIJING/PESHAWAR/ ISLAMABAD: Pakistani forces targeted the Afghan Taliban’s military installations on Monday night, security sources said, as Islamabad pressed on with Operation Ghazab lil-Haq. The operation was launched on the night of February 26, following unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban from across the border. Security sources said that during the strikes on Monday night, Pakistani forces destroyed the technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage at two locations in Kabul. In the Afghan province of Nangarhar, the sources said, Pakistani forces targeted Afghan Taliban’s military installations at four spots. Logistics, ammunition and technical infrastructure adjacent to these installations were also destroyed, the sources added. They further said a drone assembly workshop, “headquarters from where drones were sent” and weapon stocks were also destroyed in Nangarhar and Kabul. According to the sources, drones were prepared at those workshops using parts made in India and Israel. In updates shared around midnight, the sources said the Pakistan Air Force was continuing operations in Kabul and Nangarhar. Six targets had been successfully targeted in Kabul and Nangarhar, they said, adding that there were also reports of several terrorists having been killed. Earlier, the armed forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram sector targeted and destroyed important Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij hideouts, security sources said. “During these operations, several khawarij were killed while the rest managed to escape,” a security source said. Fitna al-Khawarij is a term the state uses to refer to the banned TTP.

The armed forces also destroyed Afghan Taliban posts across the Pak-Afghan border in KP’s Bajaur sector, security sources said. The forces targeted Afghan Taliban posts with “guided missiles”. On Sunday morning, security sources said that armed forces carried out overnight strikes in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, destroying “technical support infrastructure and an equipment storage facility”. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed the military action, adding that a tunnel used by terrorists was also destroyed. Later in the day, Tarar said that four civilians were killed and a child was injured after the Afghan Taliban “deliberately targeted the civilian population through artillery/mortar fire from across the border” in KP’s Bajaur district. Separately, the information ministry dismissed a claim by the Afghan Taliban spokesperson that a drug rehabilitation hospital had been targeted in Kabul. The “claim of this discredited so-called spokesperson of the Taliban regime is another misreporting of facts aimed at misleading public opinion”, the ministry said in a post on X. It added: “On the night of March 16, Pakistan precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure, including technical equipment storage and ammunition storage of Afghan Taliban and Fitna al Khawarij in Kabul and Nangarhar that were being used against innocent Pakistani civilians. Post-strike detonation of stored ammunition being used by the master terror proxy also fully contradicts the fake claim. “Pakistan’s targeting is precise and carefully undertaken to ensure no collateral damage is inflicted. This misreporting of facts … seeks to stir sentiments, covering illegitimate support to cross-border terrorism. The statement is rejected as being false and misleading.” FO dismisses reports Moreover, the Foreign Office (FO) on Monday also dismissed reports that Pakistan had declined China’s push for talks with the Afghan Taliban, saying that “any unnecessary speculation or fabrication of facts in this regard is unwarranted”. The statement from the FO spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, came in response to queries about media reports that claimed Pakistan had declined China’s offer. “Pakistan and China remain trusted partners and close friends, and both maintain regular and close communication on all issues of mutual concern and shared interest. “Therefore, any unnecessary speculation or fabrication of facts in this regard is unwarranted,” he said. Earlier on Monday, China reiterated its offer to continue efforts to ease ongoing border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The most urgent task is to avoid the expansion of the war and return the two countries to the negotiating table as soon as possible,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said. “China is willing to continue to make efforts to achieve reconciliation and ease relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said, adding that Beijing has been mediating between both sides in recent days. The remarks come days after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Afghan counterpart Amir Khan Muttaqi in a phone call that disputes between Islamabad and Kabul should be resolved through dialogue and consultation, not force. There has been a resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded. 2 killed in Bannu; attack on police post foiled At least two individuals in separate suspected militant-related incidents were abducted and later killed in KP’s Bannu district, sources said on Monday. In the first incident, which occurred in Bannu’s Domel tehsil, armed men abducted a well-known figure identified as Malik Nabiullah along with three other people, who were later released. However, Nabiullah was taken to an unknown location and shot dead. His body was later recovered from the area, sources said. Meanwhile, in Bannu’s Bakakhel area near the Tochi Bridge, unknown armed men abducted a young man, identified as Shazeb Khan, from his village late on Sunday. He was later killed, with his body left along the roadside. Investigation was underway in both cases, according to sources. Elsewhere in Bannu, a suspected militant attack on the Fatah Khel police post was thwarted, police sources said. According to police sources, officers detected suspicious movement via thermal cameras, after which they immediately opened fire. The militants fled the scene following the retaliatory firing. Police officials stated that the vigilance and timely response of the personnel prevented a potentially major attack.

The Bannu district has been the scene of repeated security incidents in recent months, with both civilians and local security actors coming under attack, prompting targeted operations. On Friday, one attacker was killed while a police constable was injured after terrorists attacked a checkpost guarding a camp of the internally displaced persons in Bannu’s Bakakhel area. Last month, militants raided a mosque and abducted three brothers, two of whom were police personnel and were later killed. Additional reporting by Muhammad Waseem Khan