Attack kills six Pakistani soldiers, raises tension with Afghanistan

An attack on a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan has killed six soldiers, according to officials.

An armed group stormed the checkpoint in the tribal district of Kurram in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province overnight on Monday-Tuesday, leading to a heavy exchange of fire, police and security sources said.

The attack comes as tension simmers along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and threatens to extend a series of skirmishes in recent weeks that has killed dozens.

The Pakistan Taliban, or TTP, has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the AFP news agency.

“Six security personnel were martyred and four were injured, while two militants were also killed in the fighting,” an unnamed government official told AFP.

Shaky ceasefire

The TTP, which has been fighting against Islamabad for nearly two decades, has increasingly launched attacks on Pakistan’s border regions in recent years. Islamabad accuses the Taliban authorities that took power in Afghanistan in 2021 of sheltering the group.

Kabul denies the charge and asserts that Pakistan’s security is an internal issue.

Hostilities erupted in October, when a week of fighting and shelling killed about 70 people and wounded hundreds.

Afghan and Pakistani officials signed a ceasefire agreement following mediation by Qatar, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia. However, tension remains high, and skirmishes have continued to break out as the cross-border attacks have persisted.

On Friday, an exchange of gunfire and shelling at a border crossing killed four civilians and a soldier, according to Afghanistan.

The tension has also been provoked and stirred by issues away from the battlefield. Pakistan has accelerated a mass expulsion of some of the millions of Afghan refugees it hosted.