Air strikes target depots as clashes intensify overnight
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said that 133 Afghan Taliban personnel were killed and more than 200 were wounded during retaliatory operations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on Friday.
A government official confirmed the Afghan taliban casualties after what Islamabad described as unprovoked cross-border attacks on Pakistani positions from Afghanistan.
Security sources reported that the confrontation escalated overnight, with Pakistan Air Force jets launching strikes in Afghanistan. The air operations reportedly destroyed a major ammunition depot in Nangarhar province. Meanwhile, security forces initiated Operation Ghazab-lil-Haqq in response to the alleged aggression.
Prime Minister’s spokesperson for foreign media, Mosharraf Zaidi, said counter-strikes were continuing as of 3:45am, targeting militant positions across multiple areas. He stated that 27 Taliban posts were destroyed and nine captured. Furthermore, he claimed that two Corps Headquarters, three Brigade Headquarters, two ammunition depots, a logistics base, three battalion headquarters and two sector headquarters were hit.
According to Zaidi, more than 80 tanks, artillery guns and armoured personnel carriers were destroyed. He added that additional casualties were reported across Kabul, Paktia and Kandahar.
Earlier, Zaidi had cited lower figures, saying 72 militants were killed and over 120 injured, with 16 posts destroyed and seven captured. However, he later updated the toll as operations expanded.
Zaidi stressed that no Pakistani posts were overrun and that no soldiers were killed or captured. He rejected claims of territorial losses as baseless and accused Indian proxies in Afghanistan of spreading misinformation.
Pakistan maintained that its response would remain immediate and effective, vowing to safeguard its territorial integrity amid ongoing border clashes.
