Pakistan carried out fresh cross-border strikes inside Afghanistan, claiming to have destroyed three terrorist hideouts and killed a senior Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan commander. The Afghan Taliban government, however, said the strikes killed 36 civilians and left 163 others injured — a sharply contested account that has deepened the already volatile relationship between Islamabad and Kabul.

Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced the operation on X, saying it was launched in direct response to recent terrorist attacks on Pakistani soil. The strikes targeted hideouts of TTP and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar in Afghanistan's Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar provinces. Pakistan claimed 25 militants were killed and weapons stockpiles at the sites were destroyed. TTP commander Khan Farosh, described as a key figure, was said to have been killed.

The cross-border operation followed a ground offensive in Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where four militants were killed in the initial push. Bajaur shares a border with Afghanistan, and has long been a flashpoint in Pakistan's counter-terrorism operations.

The immediate trigger appeared to be a brazen attack the previous day — armed militants stormed the Sindh Rangers headquarters in Karachi on Saturday night around 8:30 pm, using weapons and explosives. Four Rangers personnel were killed before security forces shot dead six of the attackers. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the Karachi assault.

Tarar said Pakistan has consistently worked for regional peace but "will not compromise on the security of its citizens."

The strikes are part of a pattern that has grown increasingly frequent and deadly. On June 10, Pakistani missile strikes on Kunar, Khost, and Paktika killed 13 people, including 11 children, according to the Taliban government. In March, in what was the most devastating single episode, Pakistani Air Force jets struck multiple targets in and around Kabul — including a drug rehabilitation hospital — with Afghan authorities reporting 400 killed and over 250 injured. Pakistan denied targeting civilians in both instances, maintaining that its strikes were precision operations based on intelligence inputs.

At the heart of the conflict is Pakistan's long-running accusation that the Afghan Taliban provides sanctuary to TTP fighters, allowing them to plan and launch attacks across the border. The Taliban denies this. TTP, which formed in 2007 partly in opposition to Pakistan's alliance with the United States after 2001, shares ideological roots with the Afghan Taliban but has consistently targeted the Pakistani state. After the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021, Pakistan's cross-border strikes have intensified significantly.

The civilian toll being reported by the Taliban — if accurate — will likely fuel further tension and make any diplomatic resolution harder to reach.