Taliban fighters attacked several Pakistani military posts along the Afghan border in Bajaur Agency on Saturday, sparking an hours-long gunbattle that included Pakistan launching airstrikes into Afghanistan.
Pakistani military sources said 16 militants were killed in the counter offensive, while Afghan officials said the airstrikes killed five civilians on their side of the border.
The fighting was the latest cross-border attack along the volatile and porous Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier and again tests the two countries’ uneasy relations.
Two Pakistani military officers blamed the local Pakistani Taliban for the attack, saying dozens of fighters from the group crossed into Pakistan overnight to stage the assault.
The insurgents attacked at least two military checkpoints in the northwestern tribal region of Bajaur, killing one soldier and wounding two others, local government official Shah Naseem said.
Naseem said the heavily armed attackers also targeted several military posts in the border village of Nao Top, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Khar, the main town in Bajaur.
The army responded, sending helicopter gunships into battle as troops chased the attackers. The assault killed 16 insurgents, the two army officers said. The attackers then fled toward Afghanistan, the officers said.
The officers said their intelligence suggested local Pakistani Taliban fighters launched the attack. They said the fighters, originally from the Bajaur tribal region and the northwestern Swat Valley, have been hiding in the village of Ghund in neighboring Afghanistan’s Kunar province.
Gen. Abdul Habib Sayedkhaili, the provincial police chief of Kunar province, said two Pakistani helicopters crossed into his country and opened fire in Dangam district. Their attack killed five Afghan civilians and wounded 10 others, Gen. Sayedkhaili claimed, adding that Pakistani forces fired mortar shells into Afghanistan throughout Saturday.
Afghanistan and Pakistan share a 2,250-kilometer border, and militants from both sides routinely launch cross-border attacks before fleeing back into their respective countries. The border area is remote and off limits to reporters, making it difficult to independently confirm information about fighting or military operations in the tribal regions.
Mortar attacks and other military operations routinely strain relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai long has accused Pakistan of sheltering Taliban militants and other extremists.
The Pakistani Taliban have killed thousands of people in an attempt to impose Islamic law in Pakistan and end the government’s support for the US-led war in neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has made negotiations with the Taliban a centerpiece of his government. Supporters of the peace talks argue that negotiations are the only way to end the cycle of violence while critics say a deal will only strengthen militant ranks, allow them to regroup and strike back with more force.
GOVERNMENT, TRIBESMEN PERTURBED:
Meanwhile, militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadar’s announcement to terminate North Waziristan Agency peace accord and direction to tribesmen to vacate their houses and shift to safe places by June 10 has resulted in unrest among the tribesmen.
Many tribesmen are now abandoning their homes and shifting to safer places. So far, the government is playing the role of a silent spectator and has yet to take steps for accommodation of the displaced people.
Bahadar’s warning has perturbed state high-ups who are already facing resentment of around 1.1 million displaced tribesmen, residing in miserable conditions throughout the country.
