KARACHI, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Pakistan said it launched strikes on militant targets in Afghanistan after blaming recent suicide bombings, including assaults during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, on fighters it said were operating from its neighbour’s territory.
Women and children were among the dozens killed and injured in Saturday’s attacks, the South Asian nation’s ruling Taliban said, in remarks Reuters could not verify, while its defence ministry vowed an appropriate response at a suitable time.
The strikes bring a sharp escalation in tension just days after Kabul released three Pakistani soldiers in a Saudi-mediated move to ratchet down worries following months of clashes along the rugged frontier.
The attacks featured “intelligence-based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts” belonging to the Pakistani Taliban as well as Islamic State Khorasan Province along the Afghan border, Pakistan’s information ministry said.
In a statement, it added that it had “conclusive evidence” the attacks were carried out by Khwarij, employing a term by which it refers to the Pakistani Taliban.
They were acting on instructions from “their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers,” the ministry said in Saturday’s statement.
Kabul has repeatedly denied allowing militants to use Afghan territory to stage attacks in Pakistan.
A Taliban spokesperson said the attacks had killed and injured dozens of people, including women and children, but Reuters was unable to independently verify the remarks.
Afghanistan’s defence ministry condemned what it called the blatant violation of national sovereignty as a “breach of international law, the principles of good neighbourliness and Islamic values.”
It added in its statement, “An appropriate and measured response will be taken at a suitable time.”
Among the incidents of strike Pakistan listed were a mosque bombing in Islamabad and violence in the northwestern border districts of Bajaur and Bannu.
On Saturday, the military said a suicide bomber in these districts targeted a convoy of security forces, killing five militants in a gun battle and two soldiers when an explosives-laden vehicle rammed into a military vehicle.
Tension has forced repeated closures of key border crossings, disrupting trade and activity along the 2,600-km (1,600-mile) frontier.
Clashes in October killed dozens before a fragile ceasefire was agreed, but Pakistan continues to accuse Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers of harbouring militants who stage attacks inside its territory – a claim Kabul denies.
(Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi, Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar, Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Yunus Yawar in Kabul; Writing by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus and Clarence Fernandez)
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