Gunfire From The Afghan Border Killed Five Pakistani Soldiers

Terrorists in Afghanistan across the border opened fire on Pakistani forces on Sunday, killing five soldiers, according to a military statement.

The military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations stated in a statement on Sunday that the event occurred in the border area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Kurram district.

According to an ISPR statement, the Pakistani military responded to the attack “in a befitting way,” and intelligence inputs show the terrorists incurred substantial losses.

“Pakistan firmly condemns the exploitation of Afghan land by terrorists for actions against Pakistan,” the statement said.

The Pakistani military declined to identify the group it believes handled the attack on Sunday morning. Officials in Pakistan have long believed that the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan TTP, an illegal branch of the Pakistani Taliban, has fled security operations in Pakistani border regions and is now hiding out in Afghanistan, where they are planning terrorist attacks.

The Afghan Taliban recruited members from the Pakistani Taliban while fighting a violent insurgency against the US-backed Kabul government and international soldiers in TTP-controlled Pakistani territories.

U.S. and Afghan authorities have also accused Pakistani forces of providing clandestine assistance to the Afghan insurgents, which Islamabad has denied.

Critics claim the Taliban are not living up to their promises to prevent transnational organisations from using Afghanistan as a base for attacks on other nations.

An attempt to start peace negotiations was said to have been made last year by Pakistani and TTP officials. It was stated that the Afghan Taliban had mediated a temporary cease-fire. TTP refused to prolong the 30-day ceasefire in December 2020, claiming that Islamabad had broken its obligations.

The TTP has killed several Pakistani security personnel since then and has been labelled a worldwide terrorist group by the United Nations and the United States.