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Afghan Taliban Says Its Forces Struck Targets In Pakistan As Cross-Border Clashes Erupt
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi and RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal
December 28, 2024
Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government said Taliban forces targeted what it claimed were “centers and hideouts for malicious elements” it said were involved in a recent attack in Afghanistan, as an upsurge of cross-border fighting continues.
The statement from the Taliban’s Defense Ministry followed reports of deadly early morning clashes on December 28 between Taliban forces and Pakistani border guards. It came days after the government said Pakistani aircraft bombed targets in Afghanistan in an attack it said killed dozens of civilians.
The ministry gave few details about the strikes, which it said were launched against targets in several districts behind the “hypothetical line” — a reference to a portion of the border with Pakistan that Afghan authorities have long disputed.
Local sources told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi that three people in Paktia Province were killed and two wounded by gunfire from Pakistani border guards, and that clashes also took place in the Khost province. The reports could not be independently verified.
There was no immediate comment from the Pakistani government. But the head of a community in the Kurram district told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal that Taliban forces fired rockets at two security posts near the border at about 6 a.m., setting off fighting that continued for several hours.
The Taliban’s Defense Ministry suggested the strikes on Pakistan were retaliation for what the Taliban-led government said were Pakistani air strikes that killed 46 civilians in Paktika Province, which also borders Pakistan, on December 24.
Pakistan says that militants from the Islamist group Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are hiding across the border in Afghanistan, and Islamabad has repeatedly asked the Afghan Taliban to take action against them. The Afghan Taliban say the TTP is in Pakistan.
There has been a steady increase in TTP attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in August 2021 following the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces from Afghanistan.
With reporting by Reuters
Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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