The Afghan Armed Forces’ retaliatory operation against the border territory of Pakistan “concluded around midnight (19:30 GMT),” according to the de facto National Defense Ministry of Afghanistan.

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“If the Pakistani side violates the sovereignty of Afghanistan again, our armed forces are prepared to defend the country’s Durand Line and will respond forcefully,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan – as the de facto Taliban government calls itself – tonight carried out a successful retaliatory operation against the centers of Pakistani forces along the Durand Line, in response to repeated violations of Afghanistan’s sovereignty by the Pakistani army and bombings on Afghan territory,” the National Defense Ministry said.

According to Pakistan, the attacks launched tonight by Afghanistan were “unprovoked.” Both countries have experienced a surge of tensions in recent days, especially last Friday when, according to Kabul, Pakistani airstrikes hit several locations inside Afghanistan.

Furthermore, in the past week, around 60 alleged insurgents from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group, or Pakistani Taliban – ideological brothers of the Afghan fundamentalists – died in operations by the Pakistani Army and in a suicide attack against a Police Training School. Members of the armed and security forces and a civilian also died.

This week’s attacks occurred in the conflict-ridden province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan.

Pakistan has witnessed an increase in insurgent attacks in the last year and a half, mainly in the western provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, which border Afghanistan and Iran and where separatist groups operate that Islamabad accuses of terrorism.

Pakistan and Afghanistan share a porous 2,600-kilometer border. Attacks against the police and against members of the security forces and the army are common in the border areas.

At least 30 suspected insurgents were killed in a Pakistan Army operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bringing the total of insurgents killed in the area to 56 this week. The operation was carried out in Jamal Maya, Orakzai district.

The Pakistani army uses the term “khwarij” to refer to members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group, whom it accuses of being supported by India and sheltered by the Taliban in Afghanistan, who allegedly carry out terrorist operations in Pakistan.

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