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

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Friday that 527 Afghan Taliban operatives have been killed and more than 755 injured 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 on Thursday after renewed clashes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, when Afghan Taliban forces fired on multiple locations, prompting swift military retaliation. The neighbours have clashed along the frontier since last week, when Afghanistan launched a border offensive in response to Pakistani air strikes.

Islamabad said its February air strikes that sparked 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 rejects. The border fighting has hit multiple Afghan provinces. The violence of recent days is the worst since the October fighting killed more than 70 people on both sides, with land borders between the neighbours largely shut since.

Providing a summary of the Afghan Taliban regime’s losses as of 4pm today, the information minister said 237 check posts had been destroyed and 38 others captured by Pakistani security forces.

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

The minister added that 62 locations across Afghanistan were effectively targeted by air strikes.

Meanwhile,state-run 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 Kurram sector along the Pak-Afghan border in a successful operation against the Afghan Taliban.

Read More: ‘No halt to Ghazab Lil Haq without 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 their posts during the effective operation by the Pakistan Army,” the report said.

56 Afghan civilians killed in conflict: UN

The United Nations rights chief said Friday that 56 Afghan civilians had been killed — nearly half of them children — since hostilities with neighbouring Pakistan intensified last week.

“I plead with all parties to bring an end to the conflict, and to prioritise helping those experiencing extreme hardship,” Volker Turk said in a statement.

The neighbours have clashed along the frontier since February 26, when Afghanistan launched a border offensive in retaliation for Pakistani air strikes.

Islamabad has hit back along the border and with fresh air strikes, bombing multiple sites including the former US air base at Bagram, the capital Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar.
Turk said that since the intensification of hostilities, “56 civilians, including 24 children and six women, have been killed”.

Also Read: Op Ghazab Lil Haq to go on until ‘credible guarantees, concrete steps’ by Kabul to halt terrorist support: state media

“A further 129 people, including 41 children and 31 women, have been injured,” he said.

And since the start of the year, the numbers are even higher, with 69 civilians killed in Afghanistan and 141 injured, he said.

Pakistan insists it has not killed any civilians in the conflict. Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.

The UN refugee agency said Thursday that around 115,000 Afghans and 3,000 people in Pakistan had been displaced by the fighting in the past week.

“Civilians on both sides of the border are now having to flee from air strikes, heavy artillery fire, mortar shelling and gunfire,” Turk said.

He lamented that a new wave of violence was affecting people “whose lives have been tormented by violence and misery for so long”.

He highlighted that over two million Afghans had returned to Afghanistan since Pakistan started to implement its “Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan” in September 2023.

And nearly as many were believed to remain in Pakistan, “where many face hardship and constant fear of arrest and deportation”, he said.

“As a result of the violence, humanitarian assistance is unable to reach many of those desperately in need. This is piling misery on misery,” the rights chief said.

He called on “the Pakistan military and Afghan de facto security forces to end immediately their fighting, and to prioritise helping the millions who depend on aid”.