Pakistan urges ‘stern action’ by Taliban amid cross-border attacks

Pakistan has called on the Taliban authorities in Kabul to take “stern action” against militants launching attacks on Pakistan’s soil from Afghanistan.

Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in an ambush by an armed group near the Afghan border on April 14.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry warned Afghan officials in a statement on Sunday against harboring anti-Pakistan militants. “Pakistan, once again, strongly condemns terrorists operating with impunity from Afghan soil to carry out activities in Pakistan.”

“Pakistan requests the sovereign government of Afghanistan to secure Pak-Afghan Border region and take stern actions against the individuals involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan.”

The April 14 ambush in North Waziristan was claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a banned terrorist outfit which operates across the porous frontier with Afghanistan.

7 Pakistani soldiers killed in ambush in North Waziristan

North Waziristan has seen operations by the army to rid the area of the Pakistan Taliban since 2014.

“Unfortunately, elements of banned terrorist groups in the border region, including TTP, have continued to attack Pakistan's border security posts, resulting in the martyrdom of several Pakistani troops.”

Tension erupted after five children and a woman were killed in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Kunar on Saturday in alleged rocket attacks Taliban officials blamed on the Pakistani military.

Afghanistan’s Taliban administration has warned Pakistan over the rocket attacks. “This is a cruelty and it is paving the way for enmity between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said late on Saturday. “The Pakistani side should know that if a war starts it will not be in the interest of any side.”

Also on Saturday, Taliban officials summoned Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul in protest over the matter.

Taliban warn Pakistan of 'bad consequences' after rocket attacks

The Taliban spokesman has slammed Pakistan for allegedly launching deadly attacks on Afghanistan.

47 dead in Afghanistan after Pakistan airstrikes: Officials

A local Taliban leader in Khost, Mawlawi Mohammad Raes Helal, said Afghanistan’s eastern provinces of Khost and Kunar had been bombed by Pakistani helicopters.

Shabir Ahmad Osmani, director of information and culture in Khost, said Sunday the death toll from the strikes had risen to 47.

“Forty-one civilians, mainly women and children, were killed and 22 others were wounded in air strikes by Pakistani forces near the Durand line in Khost province.” This as an Afghan official said on Saturday six people were also killed in Kunar. 

Border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have risen since the Taliban seized power last year, with Islamabad claiming militant groups are carrying out regular attacks from Afghan soil. The Taliban deny harboring Pakistani militants, but are also infuriated by a fence Islamabad is erecting along their 2,700-kilometer border.

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