PESHAWAR
\nPakistani and Afghan forces exchanged fire in the Bajaur sector of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday, said security sources. They added that Pakistan\u2019s security forces \u201cretaliated vigorously\u201d after Afghan Taliban fighters opened fire with \u201csmall and large weapons\u201d along different areas of the border district.
\nSecurity sources further said retaliatory fire by Pakistani forces silenced the enemy\u2019s guns and \u201cAfghan posts from which Pakistan was being fired at were also destroyed\u201d. According to local security officials, Pakistan \u201cdid not target any civilian population, but only targeted those posts from which continuous firing was being done\u201d.
\nThe For\u00adeign Office (FO) on Thur\u00adsday said that the temporary pause in Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against the Afghan Taliban over Eidul Fitr had concluded, and the operation will continue \u201cuntil its objectives are achieved\u201d. FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi made these remarks while responding to questions during his weekly press briefing regarding whether the pause had been extended.
\nThe operation was lau\u00adnched on the night of Feb 26, following unprovoked cross-border attacks by the Afghan Taliban. Earlier this month, Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir said that peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan could only prevail if the Taliban regime \u201crenounced their support for terrorism and terrorist organisations\u201d.
\nRelations between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban are at their lowest point in the four years since the group came to power. Last year in October, border clashes had erupted between Pakistan and Afghanistan across their 2,600-kilometre frontier. Following those clashes, Turkiye and Qatar had stepped in to mediate. \u2014 DNA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PESHAWAR Pakistani and Afghan forces exchanged fire in the Bajaur sector of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday, said security sources. They added that Pakistan\u2019s security forces \u201cretaliated vigorously\u201d after Afghan Taliban fighters opened fire with \u201csmall and large weapons\u201d along different areas of the border district. Security sources further said retaliatory fire by Pakistani forces silenced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-539108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n