“Movement of a large group… who were trying to infiltrate through Pakistan-Afghanistan border was detected by the security forces” in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa between Friday and today, according to an army statement.
The “group of extremists was specifically infiltrating on behest of their ‘foreign masters’ to undertake high-profile terrorist activities inside Pakistan”, it said, adding that 54 insurgents had been killed.
“Such actions by (extremists), at a time when India is levelling baseless accusations against Pakistan, clearly implies on whose cues (the extremists are) operating,” it said.
Pakistan is grappling with a broad uptick in insurgency coinciding with the Taliban’s 2021 return to power in neighbouring Afghanistan, where Islamabad claims attackers are now taking shelter.
Separately, India has accused Pakistan of supporting “cross-border terrorism” after gunmen killed 26 people on April 22 in the worst attack on civilians in the contested Kashmir region in years. Islamabad has denied any involvement.
The Pakistani army said today a “large cache of weapons, ammunition and explosives was also recovered” from the insurgents attempting to enter Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
It comes a day after 15 rebels were killed in the province in three clashes that also left two soldiers dead.
More than 200 people, mostly security forces, have been killed in attacks since the start of the year by armed groups fighting the government in both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, according to an AFP tally.
Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore today that the rebels’ “foreign masters are pushing them to enter Pakistan”.
“Our soldiers attacked them from three sides and killed 54 (rebels),” Naqvi said.
“This is the biggest number of this ongoing operation till today, such a big number has never been killed before.”
Last year was the deadliest in nearly a decade in Pakistan, according to the Centre for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad, with the vast majority of the attacks near the western border with Afghanistan.
Pakistan accuses the Taliban government of failing to rout out rebels organising on Afghan soil, a charge Kabul routinely denies.