Pakistan said it had carried out strikes along the Afghan border against hideouts of Pakistani militants, whom it blames for recent attacks on Pakistani territory, the Associated Press reported, citing the Ministry of Information.
Islamabad did not specify in which areas the strikes were carried out or give details. There was no comment from Kabul at the time.
Early this morning, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote in the "Ex" application that the military had carried out "intelligence-based selective operations" against seven camps of the Pakistani Taliban from the "Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan" (TTP) group and its affiliates. The minister said that a branch of the "Islamic State" group was also attacked in the border area.
The Pakistani army carried out selective strikes on seven camps and hideouts of terrorists in response to suicide attacks carried out on Pakistani territory by armed groups supported by Kabul, the information ministry said in a statement, quoted by Agence France-Presse.
The strikes came after at least four suicide attacks in recent weeks - three in the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and one in Islamabad - that killed dozens of civilians and security forces, DPA noted.
Pakistani authorities said they had convincing evidence that the perpetrators were based in Afghanistan. They blame the attacks on the Afghan-based Pakistani Taliban and their affiliates, as well as militants from the "Islamic State in Khorasan Province".
Islamabad said the Afghan Taliban government had failed to take real action against the militants despite repeated Pakistani demands. It called on Kabul to reject using Afghan territory for attacks against Pakistan and urged the international community to pressure the Taliban to live up to commitments made in the Doha Agreement.
Tensions between the two countries escalated after Pakistani airstrikes on Kabul in October last year and subsequent attacks on Afghan territory. Ground forces from both sides exchanged artillery fire in clashes before a Qatar-brokered ceasefire was agreed. Dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed on both sides of the border in the fighting. Several rounds of talks mediated by Qatar and Turkey to ease tensions along the border have failed to yield a breakthrough. Kabul rejects Pakistan's accusations that it is harboring the Pakistani Taliban, who operate separately from the Afghan Taliban, DPA recalls.