 "Pakistani troops clash with Afghan Taliban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, leaving senior commander dead")
Pakistani troops and Afghan Taliban fighters engaged in heavy fighting in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday night, as clashes along the border continue.
Tuesday night’s fighting came after terrorists linked with Tehreek-i-Taliban opened fire without warning. PTV News reported that several Taliban posts, including at least one tank position, were heavily damaged, forcing fighters to retreat.
Later reports said additional positions, including the Shamsadar post, were destroyed, and a senior Fitna al-Khawarij commander was killed.
“Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns and its unwavering resolve to protect its territorial integrity and national security,” Pakistan’s foreign secretary Amna Baloch said in a statement.
Last week, seven policemen and six terrorists were killed in a police training centre in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. The Pakistani Army has also said that its security forces have killed 30 terrorists involved in the attack on a military convoy near the Afghan border in Orakzai district on October 7.
Meanwhile, Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Monday said that all of Afghanistan’s neighbours are happy except for Pakistan.
“We don’t want conflict with anyone. There is peace in Afghanistan. Pakistan is not our only neighbour. We have five other neighbours and all of them are happy with us,” said Muttaqi, according to ANI.
While tensions had been brewing between the Taliban and Pakistan for a long time, the immediate trigger for last week’s intense clashes along the border were explosions in Kabul on Thursday. The Taliban said those explosions were a result of Pakistani airstrikes.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe Taliban then launched attacks on Pakistani forces across the Durand Line, the line that divides Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban have long rejected Durand Line as the two countries’ border.
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