DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Militants firing from inside Afghanistan martyred at least five Pakistani soldiers at a border post in Kurram district on Sunday, the military said, the second such attack since Taliban militants took over Kabul in August.

The army said it retaliated, causing heavy casualties, but independent confirmation was not immediately possible because the districts along the mountainous Afghan border are off limits to journalists and human rights organisations.

“Militants from inside Afghanistan across the international border opened fire on Pakistani troops in Kurram district,” the military’s media wing said in a statement.

Terrorist killed during intelligence-based operation in Tank: ISPR

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistan Taliban, which renewed an allegiance with the Afghan Taliban after the fall of Kabul, claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack.

The Afghan government denied the firing had come from within Afghan territory. “We assure other countries, especially our neighbours, that no one will be allowed to use Afghan land against them,” Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government, told Reuters.