Pakistan thwarts border attack, several Taliban dead, security sources say

Pakistan has thwarted an attempted Afghan attack in its border area of Gulistan, killing several members of the Afghan Taliban, Pakistani security sources said today (25 September), without detailing the planned attack.

The incident comes as tensions have resurfaced between the allies-turned-foes after three months of relative calm, following an attack on a police facility in northwestern Pakistan last week that killed at least 24 people.

The latest "retaliatory action" was taken against an attempt to enter Pakistani territory and commit aggression, the security sources said.

Intermittent firing was still underway between the Afghan Taliban and security forces, who remained fully alert in the border area, they said.

The Afghan Taliban did not immediately comment on the Pakistan allegations.

Pakistan's air force struck 10 locations in Afghanistan yesterday (24 September) that Islamabad said were being used to launch and store drones.

Pakistan also carried out airstrikes in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region on Monday, killing 28 militants, while Afghan Taliban officials accused it of killing three civilians in overnight strikes.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have increasingly been at odds over expanding insurgencies in their western and northwestern border region.

Islamabad accuses Kabul of harbouring Islamist militants who stage cross-border attacks. Afghanistan's Taliban government denies this, saying militancy is Pakistan's internal problem.

The Muslim neighbours engaged in their worst fighting in years in February, and more than 400 people were killed in a Pakistani airstrike on Kabul in March as tensions persisted.

The Afghan Taliban has said the airstrike targeted a drug rehabilitation centre, but Islamabad denied the charge, saying it "precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure".