Militants in Afghanistan strike Pakistan army post, kill three soldiers

Islamabad, Apr 23 (PTI) At least three Pakistani soldiers were killed after militants from across the border in Afghanistan fired indiscriminately at their military check post, the Pakistan Army said on Saturday.

The militants opened fire from across the Afghanistan border in the Dewagar area of North Waziristan, to which the Pakistan troops “responded in a befitting manner,” the army statement said. “As per credible intelligence reports, due to firing from our own troops, the terrorists suffered heavy casualties,” it said. “Pakistan strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against Pakistan and expects that [the] Afghan government will not allow conduct of such activities in [the] future,” it added.

No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. There has been a substantial rise in the number of such attacks in this region over the last two months. Earlier this month seven Pakistani soldiers were killed after their vehicle was ambushed by militants in Datakhel tehsil of North Waziristan district, the Dawn newspaper reported quoting Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Similarly, in March this year, four soldiers were killed in the same vicinity in an intense exchange with militants who were trying to infiltrate from the Afghanistan border, the report said.

“Terrorists are using Afghan soil with impunity to carry out activities inside Pakistan,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said in a stern message to Afghanistan’s Taliban regime. The surge in the number of such attacks along the Afghan-Pak border showcases the challenge facing the Taliban rulers, who captured power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of the US troops after two decades in the war-torn country.