Islamabad, 29 June  

Pakistan on Monday said its security forces killed 29 militants in a ground operation near the Afghan border and subsequent cross-border strikes, as Islamabad and Kabul summoned each other's charge d'affaires to lodge diplomatic protests over the latest escalation.

Pakistan summoned Afghanistan's charge d'affaires in Islamabad over the recent attack on a Pakistan Rangers headquarters in Karachi, alleging Afghan nationals and their territory were used to facilitate the assault.

Afghanistan, in turn, summoned Pakistan's charge d'affaires in Kabul to protest what it alleged were Pakistani air strikes on civilianhomes in Kunar, Paktia and Paktika provinces in violation of its airspace and sovereignty.

Pakistan said the military action was carried out in response to a series of recent militant attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and on the Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) camp in Karachi. Information Minister Atta Tarar said security forces conducted an intelligence-based ground operation against a group of militants near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on 28 June.

Tarar said four militants were killed in the Bajaur operation. It was followed by precision strikes carried out during the night of June 28-29 under 'Operation Ghazab lil-Haq', targeting what Pakistan described as militant camps and hideouts in Afghanistan's Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces. According to Tarar, the strikes destroyed three targets in the three provinces, killing 25 militants and destroying weapons and ammunition stored there.

"A well-planned intelligence-based ground operation was carried out by security forces along the Pakistan-Afghan border, followed by calibrated strikes in the border region against the hideouts and safe havens of terrorists belonging to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna-al-Khwarij, killing twenty-nine Khwarij," Tarar said.

"Fitna-al-Khwarij" is the term officially used by Pakistan to refer to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allied militant groups. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is affiliated with the TTP.

Pakistan on Sunday summoned Afghanistan's charge d'affaires Sardar Ahmed Khan Shakeeb and issued a formal diplomatic protest, or demarche, over the attack on the Pakistan Rangers headquarters in Karachi earlier this week. "The Afghan charge d'affaires was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs last night, and a strong demarche was issued regarding the Karachi terrorist attack," Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Monday.

"A similar demarche was conveyed by Pakistan's Ambassador Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs," he added.

Andrabi alleged that Afghan nationals, including one suspect arrested alive after the Karachi attack, had participated in the assault, adding that this showed Afghan territory and nationals continued to be used to facilitate attacks inside Pakistan.

On the other hand, the Afghan foreign ministry said in a series of posts on X that it also summoned the Pakistani charge d'affaires in Kabul to lodge a "strong and resolute protest" over what it described as Pakistan's violation of Afghanistan's airspace and the bombing of civilianhomes in Kunar, Paktia and Paktika provinces.

The ministry alleged that Pakistani air strikes on residential areas killed 36 civilians, including women and children, and injured 163 others. It described the strikes as a violation of international law, humanitarian principles and Afghanistan's sovereignty.

The ministry also rejected Pakistan's allegations linking Afghanistan to recent militant attacks, accusing Islamabad of attempting to shift blame for its internal security challenges onto Afghanistan. It said such actions undermined trust between the two neighbours and harmed regional peace and stability. Pakistan has not immediately responded to the Afghan allegations.

Earlier this week, the Pakistan Army said three soldiers were killed when militants attacked the Rangers headquarters in Karachi. It said security forces killed three attackers in retaliatory fire, while another attacker was injured and arrested.

Banned Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for that attack.

According to security sources, the injured suspect told investigators that he was an Afghan national and that the attack had been planned in Afghanistan with the assistance of a militant based in the bordering district Bajaur. The current strikes are part of the broader anti-terror operation.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks targeting police and security forces in recent years. It has repeatedly accused the Taliban administration in Kabul of providing support to terrorists carrying out cross-border attacks.