Kabul (Afghanistan)/Islamabad (Pakistan), 29 October (H.S.): Afghan forces have claimed to have launched retaliatory attacks on Pakistani military installations and checkposts in response to strikes by Pakistani forces. Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence said its forces carried out heavy attacks on Pakistani military positions near the Angoor Adda district market in Paktika province. The action, it said, was in retaliation for Pakistani attacks in the area.

According to a report by Kabul Times, Pakistani forces carried out four drone strikes at around 1 pm on Wednesday, targeting the Angoor Adda market and a checkpost near the so-called Durand Line. In response, Afghan forces targeted Pakistani military installations and checkposts in the vicinity, according to a statement issued by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence.

The ministry claimed that several Pakistani soldiers were killed or wounded in the retaliatory action and that their infrastructure sustained extensive damage. It also asserted that Afghan forces suffered no casualties in the operation.

However, according to a report by Pakistan’s The News, the Pakistani Ministry of Information rejected Kabul’s claims regarding the Angoor Adda border incident. The ministry alleged that Afghan Taliban forces had opened fire and carried out mortar attacks on Pakistani civilians without provocation, killing one civilian and injuring five members of the same family.

According to security sources, the ministry’s statement came after the Pakistani military launched a retaliatory operation following what it described as an unprovoked attack by Afghan Taliban forces on civilians in the Angoor Adda area of South Waziristan. The Pakistani Ministry of Information said the country’s security forces had delivered an “immediate, effective and very strong response”.

The ministry further claimed that the Pakistani operation had destroyed seven Afghan Taliban checkposts.

Paktika province is located in southeastern Afghanistan and shares an international border with Pakistan along the Durand Line to the east and south. The region borders Pakistan’s North and South Waziristan districts, as well as the Zhob district of Balochistan province.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar