ISLAMABAD: Mosharraf Zaidi, spokesperson to the prime minister on foreign media, said on Tuesday that the Afghan Taliban regime initiated unprovoked firing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the Torkham and Tirah sectors.
In a post on X, he said Pakistan’s security forces “responded immediately and effectively, silencing the Taliban aggression.”
Zaidi warned that any further provocation would be met with an “immediate and severe” response, reaffirming that Pakistan would continue to protect its citizens and safeguard its territorial integrity.
The exchange follows Pakistan’s overnight air strikes over the weekend in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, where, according to officials, terrorist camps and hideouts were targeted. An official said more than 80 terrorists were killed in the precision strikes.
A statement issued by the information ministry in the early hours of Sunday said the strikes were conducted in response to a series of terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, including a suicide bombing at an imambargah in Islamabad and multiple attacks in Bannu and Bajaur.
The ministry said Pakistan had “conclusive evidence” that "khwarij" -- terrorists backed by India belonging to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) -- carried out the attacks at the behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.
Describing the action as a retributive, intelligence-based operation, the statement said seven terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to the TTP, along with affiliates and Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), were targeted in the border region.
It added that despite repeated efforts by Pakistan urging the Afghan Taliban regime to take verifiable measures to deny the use of its territory by terrorist groups and foreign proxies for attacks against Pakistan, no substantive action had been taken.
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