Kabul: In a major incident, Pakistan on Monday carried out two airstrikes in Afghan territory, killing five women and three children, according to a Taliban spokesperson who condemned the strikes as a violation of sovereignty. The strikes came as the neighbours have traded blame over responsibility for recent militant attacks in Pakistan.
Pakistan carried out the airstrikes in retaliation for a militant attack on Saturday that killed seven soldiers in North Waziristan. A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden truck into a military post in North Waziristan, killing the soldiers. The attack on the military post was claimed by a newly formed militant group, Jaish-e-Fursan-e-Muhammad. However, Pakistani security officials believed the group mainly is comprised of members of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, which often targets Pakistani soldiers and police.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari attended the funerals of the soldiers, including an army lieutenant colonel and captain, and vowed to retaliate for their killings, saying “the blood of our martyred soldiers will not go in vain". Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the attack a “cowardly” move by the terrorists.
Pakistan's retaliatory airstrikes
Two Pakistani security and intelligence officials said the airstrikes were carried out in Khost and Paktika provinces bordering Pakistan, targeting TTP hideouts in Afghan territory. No further details were announced. The strikes killed five women and three children in the eastern border provinces of Khost and Paktika, said Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid.
"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan does not allow anyone to compromise security by using Afghan territory," he added in a statement. While Pakistan blames Afghanistan for sheltering the TTP responsible for the rise of such attacks, the ruling Taliban has denied these allegations.
"Pakistan shouldn't blame Afghanistan for the lack of control, incompetence, and problems in its own territory. Such incidents can have very bad consequences which will not be in Pakistan's control," Mujahid said in the statement. Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based security expert, said Monday's strikes were in retaliation for a series of TTP attacks.
“It also indicates that Pakistan's patience for the Afghan interim government's continued hospitality for terrorists conducting frequent attacks on Pakistan from inside Afghanistan has finally run out," he added.
What is Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan?
The TTP set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007, called off a ceasefire with the federal government and ordered its militants to stage terrorist attacks across the country. The group, which is believed to be close to al-Qaeda, has been blamed for several deadly attacks across Pakistan, including an attack on army headquarters in 2009, assaults on military bases, and the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.
In January last year, TTP militants unleashed an explosion in a crowded mosque inside a highly secured police compound in the city of Peshawar, resulting in the killing of at least 100 security personnel. However, while Pakistan has stated that hostile groups operate from "sanctuaries" across the border, the Taliban government routinely denies the charges.
The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan emboldened TTP, whose top leaders and fighters are hiding in Afghanistan. Though the Taliban government in Afghanistan often says it will not allow TTP or any other militant group to attack Pakistan or any other country from its soil, the Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks inside Pakistan in recent years, straining relations with the Afghan Taliban government.
An estimated 5,000 to 6,000 militants from TTP have taken shelter in neighbouring Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Special Representative to Afghanistan Ambassador Asif Durrani has said, amidst a slew of terrorist attacks in this country on Saturday. “If we include their families, then the number goes up to 70,000,” Durrani said.
Rise in terrorist attacks
Pakistan has witnessed a dramatic spike in militant attacks, mainly in its border regions with Afghanistan, since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, especially from the TTP, which shares a similar ideological base and has been said to have taken refuge on Afghan soil.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become the hotspot for terrorist incidents as statistics reveal that nearly 500 people were killed in 1,050 terror-related incidents in 2023 alone. According to an annual security report issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan witnessed 1,524 violence-related fatalities and 1,463 injuries from 789 terror attacks and counter-terror operations in 2023 - marking a record six-year high.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces were the primary centres of violence, accounting for over 90 per cent of all fatalities and 84 per cent of attacks, including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations.
(with inputs from agencies)
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