Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan killed “more than 80 terrorists,” security sources said on Sunday, in a retaliatory operation against groups responsible for recent suicide bombings in Pakistan.
Pakistan struck seven “terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Pakistani Taliban of [Fitna al Khwarij] and its affiliates and [the Islamic State-Khorasan Province] at the border region of Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting announced in a post early Sunday on the social media platform X.
Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Security sources said late Sunday evening that, “Last night, Pakistan’s intelligence-based airstrikes destroyed seven centres of Fitna al-Khawarij TTP in three provinces of Nangarhar, Paktika and Khost, in which more than eighty Khawarij have been confirmed killed, while more are expected.”
They added that the centres targeted included “New Centre No. 1 and New Centre No. 2 in Nangarhar, Khwariji Maulvi Abbas Centre in Khost, Khwariji Islam Centre, Khwariji Ibrahim Centre in Nangarhar, and Khwariji Mullah Rahbar and Khwariji Mukhlis Yar in Paktika.”
Per the information ministry, the action was taken, “in the aftermath of recent suicide bombing incidents in Pakistan, including Imam Bargah at Islamabad, one each in Bajaur and Bannu, followed by another incident today in Bannu during the holy month of Ramazan.”
“Pakistan has conclusive evidence that these acts of terrorism were perpetrated by Khwarij on the behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers. Responsibilities for these attacks were also claimed by Afghanistan-based Pakistani Taliban belonging to Fitna al Khwarij (FAK) and their affiliates, and Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP),” the ministry said.
It asserted that “Pakistan has always strived for maintaining peace and stability in the region, but at the same time, the safety and security of our citizens remains our top priority”, adding that the action against the seven camps and hideouts was “a retributive response”, carried out based on “intelligence-based selective targeting”.
“Despite repeated efforts by Pakistan to urge the Afghan Taliban Regime to take verifiable measures to deny use of Afghan territory by terrorist groups and foreign proxies to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban Regime failed to undertake any substantive action against them,” the ministry noted.
“Pakistan expects and reiterates [that the] Interim Afghan Government […] fulfil its obligations and deny use of its soil by Khwarij and terrorists against Pakistan, as the safety and security of people of Pakistan comes first and foremost. Pakistan also expects the international community to play a positive and constructive role by urging the Taliban regime to stand by its commitments as part of [the] Doha Agreement to deny use of its soil against other countries; an act vital for regional and global peace and security.”
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, in a post on X, stated that the strikes by the “Pakistan Air Force were retribution for the innocent lives lost to terrorism”.
He maintained that the strikes were an “answer to the tears of every mother who has sacrificed her son for the homeland”.
Chaudhry issued a stern warning, stating that while “Pakistan desired peace, it would not make compromises on its safety, land, and people”.
“Whoever looks at us with evil intent, we will destroy them, and no one will be spared,” the minister said.
Kabul protests
Meanwhile, the Taliban regime in Kabul called the strikes a violation of its sovereignty, saying “an appropriate and measured response will be taken at a suitable time”, Reuters reported.
The news agency quoted the Afghan foreign ministry as saying that it had summoned Pakistan’s ambassador over what it described as violations of Afghan airspace and the bombing of civilians, calling the strikes “a provocative act”.
A Taliban spokesperson also claimed the attacks had killed and injured dozens of people, but Pakistani authorities termed such claims a “false and malicious narrative designed to create cover for terrorist sanctuaries”.
They maintained that TTP terrorists routinely blended into civilian areas and used non-combatants as human shields, adding that Pakistan’s operational planning accounted for this, and forces took measures to reduce or eliminate any collateral damage.
They described the actions as a “limited, proportionate response to an ongoing terror wave”, which saw mass casualty attacks inflicted on Pakistani civilians and security forces.
Photos from Nangarhar’s Bihsud district – one of the locations Afghan authorities claim were targeted by Pakistan – showed people using a bulldozer to search to clear the rubble of a destroyed building, which was being guarded by Taliban fighters.
Souring relations
There has been a resurgence in terrorism in Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban administration to dismantle terrorist sanctuaries on Afghan soil, particularly those linked to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Officials say those appeals have gone unheeded.
Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan heightened once again after the Feb 16 vehicle-borne suicide attack on a joint security forces post in Bajaur district near the Afghan border. Terrorists belonging to the TTP attempted to breach the Malangi check post and rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into its perimeter wall after an exchange of fire.
Eleven Pakistani soldiers were martyred. A young girl also died, and seven others, including women and children, were injured when a nearby residential building was damaged in the blast.
Investigators said the suicide bomber, identified as Amad, alias Qari Abdullah or Abu Zar, was a member of the Afghan Taliban’s special forces from Balkh province. The TTP claimed responsibility for the assault.
Then, on Saturday, Feb 21, a lieutenant colonel and a sepoy were martyred in a suicide attack during an intelligence-based operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district.
In its statement, the military reiterated that terrorists were “using Afghan soil” for carrying out attacks inside Pakistan, “violating the sanctity of the holy month of Ramazan”.
“Pakistan will not exercise any restrain and operations would continue against the perpetrators of this heinous and cowardly act for justified retribution against khwarij, irrespective of their location,” the ISPR asserted.
On Feb 19, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had warned that Pakistan would not hesitate to conduct strikes inside Afghanistan if attacks continued from across the border, saying military options remained viable.
Not the first time
In November last year, Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban government in Afghanistan, had claimed that Pakistan had “bombed” Khost province, and carried out air strikes in Kunar and Paktika provinces.
At the time, Pakistan had neither confirmed nor denied the strikes, which were reported the same day a deadly suicide attack on the Federal Constabulary headquarters saw three personnel embrace martyrdom and 12 sustain injuries.
The strikes were reported almost a month after deadly border clashes at the Pak-Afghan border had resulted in the martyrdom of 23 Pakistani soldiers and the killing of over 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists, according to the ISPR.
The skirmishes began “on the night of Oct 11/12, 2025, [after] Afghan Taliban and India-sponsored Fitna-al-Khawarij launched an unprovoked attack on Pakistan, along the Pak-Afghan border”.
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