More than 300 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed in the latest airstrikes and border clashes, according to Pakistan officials. Meanwhile, the Taliban claimed to have shot down a Pakistani jet.
Pakistan and Afghanistan continued to exchange strikes on Saturday, offering conflicting reports on their progress and discrediting each others’ versions of events.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Saturday that over 331 Afghan Taliban forces had been killed and more than 500 wounded during ongoing airstrikes and clashes with Afghanistan.
He added that air attacks targeted infrastructure and arms stockpiles in 37 locations across Afghanistan. According to the minister, Pakistani forces destroyed more than a hundred Afghan posts, captured 22 others, and destroyed 163 tanks and armored vehicles.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s state-run media reported that the country’s air force carried out strikes targeting key military installations in several areas of eastern Afghanistan.
Pakistani authorities said that hundreds of residents living near the northwestern Torkham border crossing have sought refuge in safer areas. Pakistan has also recently transported dozens of Afghan refugees waiting at the Torkham crossing to return home to safer locations.
What did the Taliban authorities say?
Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday that Afghan forces attacked Pakistani military bases in Miranshah and Spin Wam overnight. The attacks destroyed military installations and caused heavy casualties in response to Pakistan’s ongoing airstrikes, the ministry added.
Mullah Taj Mohammad Naqshbandi, an Afghan commissioner on the Afghan side of the Torkham border, said in a statement that the “brave forces of the Islamic Emirate destroyed the Pakistani military regime’s commissariat, military units, and three important security towers.”
Afghan officials also claimed that their forces had shot down a Pakistani jet over Jalalabad and captured the pilot. However, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry called the claims “totally untrue.”
The Department of Information and Culture in eastern Afghanistan accused Pakistan of targeting civilian areas, destroying homes, and killing at least 11 people. Pakistan claims to target only military installations to avoid civilian casualties.
Source : https://www.dw.com/en/pakistan-says-hundreds-of-afghan-taliban-fighters-killed/a-76164044
