Pakistan army kills 30 militants in cross-border clash near Afghanistan

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - ISLAMABAD — The Pakistan army on Friday said it had killed at least 30 suspected militants during an attempted cross-border infiltration from Afghanistan into the tribal district of North Waziristan.

In an official statement, the military said the group was intercepted by security forces in the Hassan Khel area near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Troops “effectively engaged and thwarted the Indian-sponsored Khawarij's attempt to infiltrate,” the statement claimed, using a term often employed by Pakistani authorities to refer to extremist elements.

“As a result of precise and skillful engagement, all thirty Indian-sponsored Khawarij were sent to hell,” the army said, adding that a significant cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosives was recovered from the scene.

The military also called on the Afghan Taliban administration to prevent its territory from being used by what it described as “foreign proxies” to launch attacks against Pakistan.

“Interim Afghan authorities need to check and prevent the use of Afghan soil for such activities,” the statement read.

There was no immediate response from either Kabul or New Delhi regarding the allegations.

The incident comes amid a surge in violence in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt. Last week, a suicide bombing in North Waziristan killed 13 Pakistani soldiers. In the aftermath, 14 militants were killed in retaliatory operations by the army.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, allegedly based in Afghanistan, of orchestrating attacks inside its borders. The Taliban government in Kabul has denied any role in the cross-border violence. — Agencies