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Pakistan says 12 militants and a soldier killed in Kurram border clash with Afghanistan
The army says Afghan Taliban posts opened fire to cover militants crossing into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The clash came as the province was placed under emergency rule.
Key points
- Pakistan's army says troops stopped militants crossing from Afghanistan into Kurram on Sunday.
- It says 12 militants and Afghan Taliban fighters and one Pakistani soldier were killed.
- Militant attacks in Pakistan hit 225 in September, the highest monthly total in 12 years, a think tank says.
Pakistan’s army said on Sunday that its troops had stopped a group of militants trying to cross from Afghanistan into Kurram district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing 12 attackers and losing one soldier in the fighting.
The military’s media wing, ISPR, said troops “effectively thwarted the infiltration attempt”, and that Afghan Taliban border posts opened fire to support the militants. Its count of 12 dead lumped together militants it called “khawarij” and Afghan Taliban personnel. The soldier killed was Naib Subedar Hidayat Aman, who the army said died after “fighting gallantly”. A clearance operation was under way.
The army also described the militants as “Indian sponsored”. It gave no evidence for the claim.
ISPR said the clash supported Islamabad’s case about the “willful abject failure of the Afghan Taliban regime” to stop its soil being used by militants. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi praised the troops and offered condolences to the soldier’s family.
A province under emergency
The clash came as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province governed by Imran Khan’s party, was placed under emergency and governor’s rule, with the army authorised to deploy in aid of the civil administration. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet accused the province of “deliberate disengagement from the fight against terrorism”; Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has called the takeover undemocratic. Kurram is one of 12 districts where a separate secretariat will now run security and development.
Violence has been rising. The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies recorded 225 militant attacks across the country in September, up 13.1% from 199 in August and the highest monthly total in 12 years. On 27 September a suicide bomber killed 14 people at a police checkpost in Dera Ismail Khan, and on 18 September an attack on the old Police Lines in Kohat killed 23.