KABUL/ISLAMABAD: The weeklong clashes between Pakistani and Afghan forces have resulted in the deaths of 464 combatants from the Afghan Taliban regime and led to capture of 31 posts and destruction of 188, during Operation Ghazab Lil-Haq, launched following “unprovoked action” from across the border.
This was announced by the Federal Information Minister, Attaullah Tarar, here on Tuesday. Providing a summary of Afghan Taliban regime’s losses at 16:00 hours Tuesday, the minister said that over 665 Afghan operatives were injured during Operation Ghazab Lil-Haq. Around 192 tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery guns have also been destroyed during the operation, he added. The minister noted that around 56 locations across Afghanistan were also targeted by air, effectively.
Tarar also reported successful air strikes on the Bagram air base north of Kabul, which served as a key American command centre through the 20-year Afghan war. “We had intelligence that there were ammunition and critical equipment being used by terrorists to fight the Pakistan Army along the border as well as by Afghan Taliban troops,” Tarar told Reuters in the first official Pakistani acknowledgement of the strikes.
A senior Pakistani security source said the air strikes would continue until Afghanistan took concrete steps to deal with militants using its territory. If such steps were not taken, Pakistan could target the Taliban’s top leadership, the source said. Reports of fighting along the 2,600-km (1,615-mile) border have ebbed and flowed over the six-day conflict. Pakistani security sources said they have also destroyed a weapons storage facility in Jalalabad and a military base in Nangarhar province. Both countries said they have inflicted heavy losses on the other side.
In another development, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said that 42 civilians have been killed and 104 wounded in “indirect fire in cross-border clashes” between February 26 and March 2, based on “preliminary” figures. Tarar refuted the figure, saying militants wear “civilian attire” and that the Kabul-based UN agency relied on Taliban authorities for information. “Pakistan has been precise in targeting terrorists and their supporters, including Afghan Taliban military installations that support terrorists,” he said.—Ag wires
