Pakistan Army Hits Back After Afghan Taliban Fire Across the Border in Upper Kurram, Topsar Post Shelled and Shipola Camp Reported Destroyed

ISLAMABAD: The Kurram border firing on Saturday has pushed tensions along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier up another notch. State broadcaster PTV News and the state-run APP, both citing security sources, reported that Afghan Taliban forces opened unprovoked fire in the Taidah sector of Upper Kurram district — fire the sources said was meant to help terrorists slip across the border into Pakistan.

Heavy weapons answer, posts destroyed

The Pakistan Army answered with heavy weapons. Security sources said artillery targeted the Afghan Taliban’s Topsar post and its Shipola base camp, and that the camp was destroyed completely, while personnel abandoned several other posts and fled. APP reported that several Afghan Taliban personnel were also killed in the retaliatory action along the Ghuzgarhi border. Those claims could not be independently verified, and the sources said the exchange of fire was still continuing in the area when the reports came in.

A day after the talks message

The clash landed a day after the Foreign Office set out its terms for dialogue: talks with Afghanistan, it said, cannot be unconditional. At the weekly briefing, spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan also pushed back on any suggestion that Islamabad is avoiding engagement. Pakistan, he said, is not shying away from discussions or dialogue, including with representatives of Afghanistan, and would welcome sincere efforts by friendly countries that help address its legitimate security concerns and promote regional peace and stability. For now, the guns along the border and the careful language in Islamabad are running side by side.