ISLAMABAD — Pakistan reported Monday that at least three soldiers had been killed in clashes with militants attempting to cross over from Afghanistan.
A military statement said that Pakistani forces had intercepted the predawn infiltration attempt in the Bajaur border district and "effectively engaged and thwarted" it. The ensuing intense gunfight also killed five assailants and wounded several others, it added.
The reported militant casualties could not be immediately confirmed by independent sources, nor were there any claims of responsibility for the attempted incursion.
However, the military blamed fugitive militants associated with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a globally designated terrorist organization, for carrying out the attack from their bases on the Afghan side of the border.
“Pakistan has consistently been asking [the] interim Afghan government to ensure effective border management on their side of the border,” the military stated, referring to the neighboring country’s de facto Taliban rulers.
The statement renewed Islamabad’s call for Kabul to “fulfill its obligations and deny the use of Afghan soil by Khwarij (official reference to TTP in local language) for perpetuating acts of terrorism against Pakistan.”
Taliban authorities deny the Pakistani allegations, asserting they have secured and “firmly" control the entire Afghan territory.
“Afghanistan is not a threat to any country,” Taliban-run state TV quoted Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy government spokesperson, as saying Monday.
“The Islamic Emirate has made it clear that it does not allow the territory of Afghanistan to be used against the security of any other nation,” Fitrat stated, using the official title of their government, which is not recognized by any country.
Pakistan has reported a dramatic surge in TTP attacks in the country since the Taliban reclaimed power in Kabul three years ago. The violence has killed and wounded several thousand civilians and security forces, according to official and independent reports.
The rise in militancy has strained relations between the two countries, sharing a nearly 2,600-kilometer (1,616-mile) border.
The United Nations has backed Islamabad’s complaints and, in a security assessment released last month, described TTP as “the largest terrorist group” in Afghanistan.
The report stated that up to 6,500 TTP militants operate on Afghan soil with the growing support of the Taliban government to launch cross-border attacks in Pakistan. The U.N. noted that the militants are being equipped and trained in al-Qaida-run training camps in Afghanistan.
The de facto Kabul authorities dismissed the U.N. findings as propaganda at the time.
