ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Monday its forces killed 29 militants in cross-border operations targeting militant hideouts in eastern Afghanistan, while Afghan officials said the strikes hit residential areas and killed 36 civilians, highlighting sharply competing accounts of the overnight military action.
The operations followed Saturday night’s attack on a Pakistan Rangers camp in Karachi by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP). Pakistan’s military said three Rangers personnel and three militants were killed in the assault, while four troops were injured. It also said a suspected militant, an Afghan national, was captured alive after the attack.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Pakistani forces first carried out an intelligence-based ground operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the northwestern Bajaur district, killing four militants.
“Based on credible intelligence, precise targeting of terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Jamaat ul Ahrar and Fitna al khwarij have also been carried out on night 28/29 June, in border region of Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” Tarar said.
“Three targets in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar were destroyed during precision strikes, killing twenty-five terrorists.”
Tarar said the operation was launched in response to “recent multiple terrorist incidents” in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces, as well as Saturday’s attack on the Rangers camp in Karachi.
Tarar said Pakistan sought peace and stability in the region but would “not compromise on the safety and security of our citizens.”
Pakistan’s Foreign Office later said it had summoned the Afghan chargé d’affaires in Islamabad and issued a “strong demarche” over the Karachi attack. It said Pakistan’s ambassador in Kabul had also delivered a similar demarche to Afghanistan’s foreign ministry.
“These demarches were issued in light of the fact that Afghan nationals, including one apprehended alive, participated in this attack, proving yet again that Afghan soil and Afghan nationals continue to be used to orchestrate terrorist attacks inside Pakistan,” Foreign Office spokesman Tahir Andrabi said.
Afghan officials rejected Pakistan’s account, saying the strikes hit civilian areas and caused heavy casualties.
Afghanistan’s Deputy Spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said 36 civilians, including women and children, had been killed and 163 injured.
He said 30 people were killed and 158 injured when Pakistani aircraft bombed residential areas in Mandukhel village in Paktia province, while six others were killed in Giyan district in Paktika province after a house was struck.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have traded accusations over militant violence since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
Islamabad says militants based in Afghanistan, including the TTP and its affiliates, regularly launch attacks inside Pakistan with the backing of the Afghan Taliban, an allegation Kabul denies. Afghanistan has repeatedly urged Pakistan to address its security challenges without blaming its neighbor.
Pakistan also accuses India of backing militant groups operating from Afghan territory, a charge New Delhi rejects.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have deteriorated in recent years, with deadly border clashes in October 2025 and February 2026 leaving dozens of troops dead and wounded on both sides.
