AFTER PAK AIRSTRIKE TALIBAN LAUNCHES MILITARY ASSAULT

Assault units, mechanized infantry vehicles and drones were used by the Afghan forces to destroy at least four Pak Army posts and ISIS camps. 19 Pak Army personnel are believed to have been killed.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

NEW DELHI The Afghanistan government early on Saturday launched a military attack on Pakistan Army posts and what it claimed were training camps of terror group Islamic State (ISIS).

Kabul-based sources claimed that this was the first such military assault undertaken by the Taliban-led government in Kabul on Pakistani soil, which included entering Pakistan's airspace using armed drones to target ISIS camps. While border skirmishes have occurred between the two countries over issues related to the Durand Line, Afghan forces have never crossed into Pakistan.

As per sources within the group and the Afghanistan defence ministry, at least 19 Pakistan Army personnel were killed by the Afghan defence forces in which members of the 203 Mansoori Corps took part.

203 Mansoori Corps is one of Afghanistan's eight army corps, which was established in October 2021 and is headquartered in Gardez, eastern Afghanistan, located in the Paktika Province near the Pakistan border.

There was no official word from the Pakistan foreign ministry or the army on these attacks, till the time of this report going to press.

Sources said that apart from assault units and mechanized infantry vehicles, drones were also used by the Afghan forces to destroy at least four Pakistan Army posts and ISIS camps.

Undated pictures and videos shared with The Sunday Guardian showed 19 purported Pakistani soldiers standing in a surrender posture without any weapon. Similar videos shared with this newspaper showed dead body of what was claimed to be a Pakistani soldier who was allegedly killed by a sniper.

The Sunday Guardian was not able to independently verify the veracity of the videos and the pictures.