Pakistan carried out intelligence-based anti-terrorist operations in the border regions inside Afghanistan in response to multiple terrorist attacks in Pakistan which caused deaths of hundreds of civilians and law enforcement officials, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Monday.

“The prime target of today’s operation was the terrorists belonging to Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, which – along with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – is responsible for multiple terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.

“The latest attack took place on 16 March 2024 at a security post in Mir Ali in North Waziristan and claimed the lives of seven Pakistani soldiers,” the FO statement read.

“Over the past two years, Pakistan has repeatedly conveyed its serious concerns to the Interim Afghan Government over the presence of terror outfits including TTP inside Afghanistan. These terrorists pose a grave threat to Pakistan’s security and have consistently used Afghan territory to launch terror attacks inside Pakistani territory,” it added.

Pakistan has no intention of holding talks with TTP: FO

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Pakistan accords prime importance to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan and has, therefore, always prioritised dialogue and cooperation to confront the terrorist threat.

“We have repeatedly urged the Afghan authorities to take concrete and effective action to ensure that the Afghan soil is not used as a staging ground for terrorism against Pakistan. We have also called on them to deny safe havens to TTP and to hand over its leadership to Pakistan.”

In its statement, the Taliban defence ministry said its security forces had targeted Pakistani troops at the border in response to the air strikes.

The Taliban foreign office said it had called in Pakistan’s head of mission to condemn the attacks to him.

Earlier, Afghanistan’s interim government had claimed that Pakistan carried out two air strikes in Afghan territory, killing five women and three children.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan does not allow anyone to compromise security by using Afghan territory,” Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Taliban administration, said in a statement.

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The strikes killed five women and three children in the eastern border provinces of Khost and Paktika, he claimed.

“Pakistan shouldn’t blame Afghanistan for the lack of control, incompetence, and problems in its own territory,” Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, added in the statement. “Such incidents can have very bad consequences which will not be in Pakistan’s control.”