Five Pakistani soldiers died in attacks on checkpoints along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the army announced Monday.
“Last night, terrorists from across the border attempted physical attack on three Pakistan border posts in Mohmand agency. Effective presence, vigilance and response repulsed terrorists’ attempt,” a statement from Inter Services Public Relations, the Pakistani military media office, said. It added at least 10 insurgents were killed.
Mohmand agency is one of the tribal districts of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa area, at the northernmost point of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
The Afghan Taliban announced responsibility for the cross-border attack.
Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa commented in a statement that “Terrorists are [a] common threat and must be denied freedom of movement/action along the border.”
He emphasized the need for physical presence of troops on Afghan side of the border for “matching [the Pakistani side] and effective border security.”
Pakistan sealed its border with Afghanistan after more than 100 people were killed in cross-border attacks in February. It holds Afghanistan-based militant groups responsible for attacks, and asked the Afghan government to take action; Afghanistan, in response, identified Taliban and Haqqani leaders and camps on the Pakistani side of the border it said were involved in “crimes against the people of Afghanistan.”
By Ed Adamczyk
