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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan traded sharp warnings on Friday after Kabul accused Islamabad of violating its airspace and bombing a border town and the Pakistani military vowing to do “whatever is necessary” to defend its territorial integrity.

Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of harboring militant groups, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, which have mounted attacks against Pakistani security forces and law enforcement, though the Afghan administration denies the allegation.

The military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, held a long news conference in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, citing threat of cross-border militancy only days after the killing of at least a dozen Pakistani soldiers, including three officers, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province that borders Afghanistan.

His media interaction came after reports of airstrikes in the Afghan capital of Kabul that purportedly sought to target Noor Wali Mehsud, the Pakistani Taliban chief.

“We just ask them [the Afghan authorities] for an extremely fair, just thing that, ‘do not let your soil become a haven for non-state actors and terrorist groups,’” Chaudhry said at a media briefing.

“For the safety of life and property of people of Pakistan, for the territorial integrity of Pakistan, we are doing and we will continue to do whatever is necessary.”

He said the Pakistani security forces have been conducting over 40 operations against militants on a daily basis, which have resulted in the killing of more than 900 militants so far this year. More than 300 Pakistani security personnel have also died in these operations, he added.

Chaudhry lamented a lack of implementation of all 14 points of the National Action Plan, a comprehensive strategy devised in 2014 to eradicate militant violence, other than the one stressing kinetic operations against militants.

“Governance and public welfare were deliberately weakened and attempts were made to build a misleading narrative,” the spokesman said, adding the people in KP, which borders Afghanistan, were still losing their lives to militancy.

Meanwhile, the Afghan defense ministry said Pakistani forces had “targeted a civilian market in the Margha area of Paktika province” near the international border and also “violated the airspace over the capital, Kabul.”

The ministry called the strikes “unprecedented, violent, and reprehensible,” warning that “regardless of how critical the situation becomes, the consequences will fall with the Pakistani army.”

Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in KP since a fragile truce between the government and the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), broke down in Nov. 2022.

The TTP, which is a separate group but is viewed by Pakistani officials as an ally of the Afghan Taliban, has been behind some of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan since late 2000s.

Islamabad launched multiple military operations over the last two decades to push away TTP fighters and other militants, but officials say they have managed to regroup in the rugged, mountainous northwest during their monthslong truce with the government. 

PESHAWAR: Two suspected militants, including an alleged mastermind behind attacks on Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel, were killed in an intelligence-based operation in Pakistan’s restive northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, police said on Friday.

KP police and CTD personnel carried out the operation in the Domel area of Bannu district following an intelligence tip-off about the presence of militants who were wanted in several “terrorism” cases.

Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militancy in KP in recent years. Militant groups such as the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have frequently targeted convoys of security forces, police stations and check-posts besides kidnapping government officials in the region.

“Among those killed was Rashideen alias Malang Yar, the mastermind behind the attack that martyred four brave CTD personnel,” the police said in a statement on Friday.

“A large cache of weapons, hand grenades and identification cards of the banned organization were recovered from the possession of the slain terrorists.”

Aamir Khan, a police spokesman, told Arab News that the four CTD officers were killed in separate attacks by militants in the Bannu district this year.

The police also conducted a search operation in the area to capture any other militants.

Militant attacks across KP have surged since November 2022 when a fragile truce between the TTP and the Pakistani government collapsed.

Earlier in September, a suspected militant commander wanted for bomb attacks and targeted killings of policemen was also killed in an intelligence-based operation in the Lakki Marwat district of KP.

At least 75 policemen were killed in ambushes and targeted attacks in KP last year, according to police data.

Islamabad has frequently accused India of backing militant groups and Afghanistan of permitting the use of its soil for attacks in Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi deny the allegation.