Army Foils TTP Infiltration Bid in Kurram, Afghan Posts Hit in Return Fire

Photo: Daily Pakistan

Pakistani troops stopped a group of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan fighters trying to slip across the border in Kurram on Thursday, and then hit Afghan Taliban posts with heavy weapons after firing came from across the line. Security sources say the infiltration bid failed and the Afghan posts took heavy damage, in the latest flare-up on a border that has seen four clashes in ten days.

The attempt came in the Shalozan sector of Kurram district, on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Security sources told state-run Radio Pakistan that troops spotted the group, who belong to the banned Fitna al-Khawarij, as they tried to cross into Pakistan, the Express Tribune reported.

As Pakistani troops moved to stop the crossing, Afghan Taliban forces opened fire from their side, the sources said, calling it unprovoked. Pakistani forces answered at once with heavy weapons. The sources described the reply as effective, and said the Afghan posts suffered heavy damage. No casualty figures have been confirmed, and the military's media wing, ISPR, has not yet issued a statement on this clash.

This was not a one-off. The last ten days on this border tell their own story.

• 27 October: firing on Pakistani posts and homes in Angoor Adda, Lower South Waziristan. A mortar shell hit a house, killing one civilian and wounding five members of the same family.
• 30 October: the Army hit several Afghan Taliban posts near South Waziristan and Parachinar.
• 1 November: troops answered firing from Afghan posts near Angoor Adda, and the Taliban personnel left their positions.
• 5 November: the Shalozan infiltration bid and the exchange of fire.

For families in Kurram and the border districts, this is now a grim routine. Each clash is short, but the firing lands near homes and farms, and the border stays tense for days after. The pattern also shows how little the two sides trust each other, even after months of talks. Pakistan's forces have been busy on the counterterrorism front elsewhere too, with 17 terrorists killed in Balochistan operations this week.

The two countries have been at odds since fighting broke out in October last year. Islamabad says the Afghan Taliban shelter the TTP and other groups that attack Pakistan. Kabul denies it and calls the militancy Pakistan's own problem, a row that has also reached Washington, where 66 US lawmakers have urged President Trump to stop deporting Afghans via Pakistan. In April, Pakistan put three demands to the Afghan Taliban at talks in Urumqi, China: declare the TTP a terrorist group, take its network apart, and show proof. Those demands still sit at the centre of the dispute, and the Election Commission has meanwhile halted local polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province Kurram belongs to.

Sources

• Express Tribune: Army foils TTP infiltration attempt in Kurram, retaliates to unprovoked Afghan firing
• Pakistan Today: Pakistan repels militant infiltration attempt in Kurram
• Aaj News: Security forces foil infiltration bid on Kurram border
• Daily Pakistan: Afghan Taliban border aggression met with crushing response from Pak Army in Kurram

Watch for an ISPR statement in the coming hours, and for whether the firing dies down or spreads to other points along the border.

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