Pakistan says it struck militant hideouts alongside Afghan border after surge in lethal assaults

Pakistan stated on early Sunday (February 22, 2026) it carried out strikes alongside the border with Afghanistan, focusing on hideouts of Pakistani militants it blames for latest assaults contained in the nation.

Learn | Pakistan points demarche to Taliban regime over use of Afghan soil for terror assault

Islamabad didn’t say in exactly which areas the strikes had been carried out or present different particulars. There was no quick remark from Kabul, and stories on social media instructed the strikes had been carried out inside Afghanistan.

In feedback earlier than daybreak Sunday (February 22, 2026), Data Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X that the army performed what he described as “intelligence-based, selective operations” in opposition to seven camps belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, often known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and its associates. He stated an affiliate of the Islamic State group was additionally focused within the border area.

Afghanistan stated Sunday (February 22, 2026) that Pakistan strikes on border areas had killed and wounded “dozens of individuals”.

“Final night time, they bombed our civilian compatriots in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, martyring and wounding dozens of individuals, together with ladies and youngsters,” authorities spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid posted on X.

Islamabad stated Sunday (February 22, 2026) it had carried out strikes alongside the Pakistan-Afghanistan border focusing on militant teams it blames for latest suicide assaults in Pakistan.

Mr. Tarar stated Pakistan “has at all times strived to take care of peace and stability within the area,” however added that the protection and safety of Pakistani residents remained a prime precedence.

Additionally Learn | 5 terrorists, two safety personnel killed in NW Pakistan

The newest improvement got here days after a suicide bomber, backed by gunmen, rammed an explosives-laden automobile into the wall of a safety put up in Bajaur district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The blast brought on a part of the compound to break down, killing 11 troopers and a toddler, and authorities later stated the attacker was an Afghan nationwide.

Hours earlier than the newest border strikes, one other suicide bomber focused a safety convoy within the close by Bannu district within the northwest, killing two troopers, together with a lieutenant colonel. After Saturday’s (February 21, 2026) violence, Pakistan’s army had warned that it will not “train any restraint” and that operations in opposition to these accountable would proceed “no matter their location,” language that instructed rising tensions between Islamabad and Kabul.

Mr. Tarar stated Pakistan had “conclusive proof” that the latest assaults, together with a suicide bombing that focused a Shiite mosque in Islamabad and killed 31 worshippers earlier this month, had been carried out by militants appearing on the “behest of their Afghanistan-based management and handlers.”

He stated Pakistan had repeatedly urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to take verifiable steps to forestall militant teams from utilizing Afghan territory to launch assaults in Pakistan, however alleged that no substantive motion had been taken.

He stated Pakistan urges the worldwide group to press Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities to uphold their commitments below the Doha settlement to not enable their soil for use in opposition to different nations.

Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence in recent times, a lot of it blamed on the TTP and outlawed Baloch separatist teams. The TTP is separate from however carefully allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, who returned to energy in 2021. Islamabad accuses the TTP of working from inside Afghanistan, a cost each the group and Kabul deny.

Relations between the neighboring nations have remained tense since October, when lethal border clashes killed dozens of troopers, civilians and suspected militants. The violence adopted explosions in Kabul that Afghan officers blamed on Pakistan.

A Qatar-mediated ceasefire has largely held, however talks in Istanbul failed to supply a proper settlement, and relations stay strained.