Pakistan says it killed 29 fighters in Afghan border strikes

Pakistan said its security forces killed 29 fighters in ground and air operations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, launching the attack package after a deadly strike on the Pakistan Rangers’ regional headquarters in Karachi that killed three soldiers. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation began with a ground assault and was followed by “calibrated strikes” on militant hideouts and safe havens.

The Afghan Taliban disputed Pakistan’s account and said the strikes killed at least 38 civilians. NBC News cited Afghan officials saying at least 36 civilians were killed and more than 160 injured, highlighting the wide gap between the two sides’ casualty claims as the fighting spread across the border areas. Reuters reporting said Pakistan’s forces targeted sites in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar, while Tarar said four fighters linked to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar were killed in ground attacks in Bajaur district.

The latest violence came less than three weeks after Pakistan said it killed 26 militants in June 10 strikes in Afghanistan, a round Afghan authorities said left at least 12 people dead, including 11 children and a woman. Earlier coverage of that episode said it was the third armed clash between the two countries since October 2025, underscoring how quickly retaliation has become a routine part of the border crisis.

The toll also fits a wider pattern documented by the United Nations, which said at least 372 Afghan civilians were killed and 397 wounded in the first three months of 2026 amid cross-border fighting. With Pakistan among the world’s nuclear-armed states and Afghanistan ruled by the Taliban, every exchange along the porous frontier deepens a security contest that now reaches far beyond Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kabul and the border villages caught between them.