Islamabad — Pakistani security forces launched a combined ground operation and precision air strikes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on Sunday, 28 June 2026 evening hours, killing 29 fighters across multiple locations, Islamabad said, a day after militants stormed the Pakistan Rangers headquarters in Karachi.
Afghanistan's Taliban government fired back Pakistan, accusing its neighbour of killing civilians and calling the strikes a cowardly act of aggression.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation began with an intelligence-based ground offensive near the border in Bajaur district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where security forces killed high-value Jamaat-ul-Ahrar Commander Khan Farosh and three other fighters.
He said that precision air strikes then targeted camps and hideouts belonging to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khwarij — Islamabad's term for the Pakistani Taliban — in Afghanistan's eastern provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar, resulting the death of 25 more fighters and destroying large quantities of weapons and ammunition.
Minister Tarar said the operation was a direct response to a wave of militant attacks inside Pakistan.
"Pakistan has always strived for maintaining peace and stability in the region, but at the same time shall not compromise on the safety and security of our citizens, which remains our top priority," he said.
The operation came a day after a coordinated assault on the Karachi headquarters of the Sindh Rangers paramilitary force. Militants armed with guns and explosives rammed the main gate with a vehicle and opened fire, killing three Pakistani soldiers before security forces killed three attackers and arrested a fourth, whom the military identified as an Afghan national. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility.
Kabul rejected Pakistan's framing entirely.
Afghan Taliban Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the strikes hit residential areas and constituted unprovoked aggression.
