"Pakistani Forces Neutralize 54 Militants Attempting Infiltration from Afghanistan"
Daily Bijoy News Special Correspondent:
Pakistan’s military said on Sunday that its troops had killed 54 militants attempting to infiltrate from Afghanistan, as tensions rise along the northwestern border amid a surge in cross-border militancy.
According to an army statement, security forces detected a "large group" of fighters trying to cross into northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province between Friday and Sunday. The military described the militants as jihadists acting on the orders of "foreign masters" to carry out "high-profile terrorist activities" inside Pakistan.
The statement also linked the infiltration attempt to recent accusations from India, suggesting the militants were operating on external cues. The remark comes days after New Delhi accused Islamabad of supporting "cross-border terrorism" following a deadly attack in Kashmir that killed 26 people—a charge Pakistan denies.
The army said troops recovered a "large cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosives" from the militants. The clash follows another skirmish a day earlier in which 15 militants and two soldiers were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistan has faced a sharp rise in militant violence since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan in 2021, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of failing to curb armed groups operating from its soil—a claim Afghan officials reject.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore that the militants’ "foreign masters are pushing them to enter Pakistan." He described Sunday’s operation—in which soldiers attacked the group from three sides—as the deadliest yet in the ongoing crackdown.
More than 200 people, mostly security personnel, have been killed in attacks this year in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, according to an AFP tally. Last year was Pakistan’s deadliest in nearly a decade, with most violence concentrated near the Afghan border, per the Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies.
Daily Bijoy News/ ME