Pakistan-Afghanistan clashes escalate, Islamabad claims 331 Afghan forces killed

Pakistani and Afghan forces have targeted each other’s military positions since Friday. PIC/PTI

Pakistan's military, backed by artillery and air power, struck more military installations deep inside Afghanistan overnight and into early Saturday, killing over 331 Afghan forces in dayslong border clashes, a government spokesman and officials said. Pakistani and Afghan forces have targeted each other's military positions since Thursday night, when Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack in response to Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan last Sunday. Pakistan said it was targeting the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The group is separate but closely allied with Afghanistan's ruling Taliban. Afghanistan, however, said only civilians were killed in Sunday's airstrike.

After the Afghan attack, Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif declared Friday: "Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us." Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Saturday that Pakistan destroyed 102 Afghan posts, captured 22 others and destroyed 163 tanks and armoured vehicles at 37 locations, he said. The Afghan government's deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, said the claim of hundreds of Afghan forces killed and wounded "is untrue and we reject it."

102
Afghan posts destroyed as claimed by Pakistan

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