Pakistan airstrikes kill 572 Afghan Taliban and injure over 755 during ‘Op Ghazb lil Haq’: Tarar

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Friday that 527 Afghan Taliban militants have been killed and more than 755 wounded during the ongoing operation Ghazab Lil Haq, launched in response to “unprovoked action” from across the Afghan border.

‘Operation Ghazab Lil Haq’ was launched late Thursday following renewed clashes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border as Afghan Taliban forces fired at several locations, prompting swift military retaliation. The neighbors have clashed along the border since last week, when Afghanistan launched a border offensive in response to Pakistani airstrikes.

Islamabad said its airstrikes in February that triggered the escalation were targeting terrorists. Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to act against terrorist groups that carry out attacks in Pakistan, which the Taliban government denies. The border fighting has affected several Afghan provinces. The violence in recent days is the worst since October fighting killed more than 70 people on both sides, with land borders between the neighbors largely closed since.

In providing a summary of the Afghan Taliban regime’s losses from 16 today, the information minister said that 237 checkpoints had been destroyed and 38 others captured by Pakistani security forces.

“Two hundred and five tanks, armored vehicles and artillery guns have also been destroyed during the operation,” he said.

The minister added that 62 locations in Afghanistan were effectively targeted by airstrikes.

Meanwhile, the state government Radio Pakistan reported that the ground and air operations of the Pakistan Armed Forces were effectively underway against the Afghan Taliban and Fitna-al-Khwarij.

According to security sources, the Pakistan Army destroyed several posts with heavy artillery fire in the Kurram sector along the Pak-Afghan border in a successful operation against the Afghan Taliban.

Read more: ‘No Stop For Ghazab Lil Haq No Guarantees’

The military also destroyed terrorist hideouts adjacent to Zhob and Qila Saifullah sectors.

“According to the security sources, Afghan Taliban were forced to flee from their posts during the effective operation of the Pakistan Army,” the report said.

Speaking to reporters from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Rawalpindi a day ago, security officials maintained that Pakistan had no problem with Afghanistan or its people, but noted that the Afghan Taliban regime had become a “proxy master” facilitating several terrorist groups, posing a threat to regional peace and stability.

They said the Afghan Taliban leadership had to choose between maintaining relations with Pakistan or continuing support for terrorist groups.

They described Operation Ghazab Lil Haq as a continuation of Pakistan’s wider war on terrorism, adding that it would continue until there were credible assurances and practical steps from the Afghan Taliban regime to end the patronage of terrorists.

The latest escalation of tensions between the two countries follows a series of bumbling actions over the past year.

Pakistan has previously carried out airstrikes targeting camps of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State Khorasan province inside Afghanistan following a spate of attacks in Pakistan, including a suicide bombing in Islamabad.

Pakistani security sources said that more than 80 terrorists were killed in these attacks. The attacks led to attacks from Afghanistan along the border, sparking the latest round of open conflict.

Islamabad has long maintained that TTP leaders operate from Afghan territory, a claim that Kabul has repeatedly denied.

Tensions also rose after a series of explosions in Kabul on October 9 last year. Taliban forces subsequently targeted areas along the Pakistan border, prompting Islamabad to respond with cross-border shelling. The exchanges caused losses and damage to infrastructure on both sides and led to the suspension of trade after the border crossings were closed on 12 October 2025.