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Pakistan says nearly 700 Afghan Taliban killed, wounded in ongoing operation

By Zahid Shah

ISLAMABAD -Pakistan’s military said Friday that nearly 700 Afghan Taliban have been killed and wounded in a large-scale air and ground operation launched after what Islamabad described as “unprovoked aggression” by Afghan Taliban militants along the Pakistan–Afghanistan border on Thursday evening.

Speaking at a press conference, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said 274 members of the Afghan Taliban and allied militants described as “Khwarij” had been killed so far under Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, while more than 400 others were injured.

Chaudhry said the operation was launched after what he described as coordinated cross-border fire by the Afghan Taliban regime targeting 53 localities across 15 sectors along the frontier.

“In response, Pakistan’s armed forces not only repulsed the attacks but inflicted heavy losses on the enemy,” he said.

According to the military’s account, Pakistani forces have destroyed 73 Afghan Taliban posts and captured 18 others during ongoing operations. Chaudhry added that, based on “conservative estimates,” 115 tanks, armored personnel carriers (APCs), and artillery pieces had been destroyed.

The military spokesperson said 22 locations across Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, Nangarhar, Khost, and Paktika provinces were selected as targets based on intelligence assessments.

“These were strictly military targets,” he said, adding that they included corps headquarters, brigade and battalion headquarters, sector command posts, ammunition depots, logistics bases, and hideouts used by terrorists and their facilitators.

He stressed that efforts were made to avoid civilian casualties.

DG ISPR said 12 Pakistani security personnel were martyred during the operation, while 27 others were wounded. One soldier remains missing in action.

The cross-border campaign comes amid rising tensions between Islamabad and Kabul, with Pakistan accusing the Afghan Taliban of allowing anti-Pakistan terrorist groups to operate from Afghan territory.