Pakistan Army launches second massive assault in Afghanistan

Pakistani forces on Sunday killed several militants affiliated with Jamaat-ul-Ahrar after bombing their hideouts in Afghanistan near the Pakistan border, media reported on Sunday.

According to the reports, Pakistani troops "successfully" targeted the hideouts of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar across the border and inflicted huge casualties on them near the Rena area.

The Afghan sources said that a high-value target known for recruiting terrorists and training suicide bomber, Rehman Baba, was also gunned down. They added that at least 12 terror sanctuaries, including a hideout and weapon depot camp of Jammat-ul-Ahrar's commander Wali, were also pounded by the forces, Geo News reported.

Pakistani forces targeted terrorists based across the Pakistan-Afghan border, following a week of deadly terrorist attacks in the country in which over 100 people were killed.

Just hours before the first military operation, the Pakistan Army summoned Afghan diplomats to its headquarters in Rawalpindi and handed over a list of terrorists involved in staging attacks inside Pakistan.

The army demanded that Afghanistan launch a crackdown against militants targeting Pakistan.

It was Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, which is believed to have havens in Afghanistan, that claimed the responsibility for the repeated acts of terrorism across Pakistan in the past few days.

Pakistan has repeatedly warned Afghan authorities to prevent the use of its soil for terror activities in Pakistan.

Pakistan has seen a sudden increase in terror attacks with almost nine attacks in one week. The attacks were being largely seen as a well-planned and orchestrated attempt to destabilise Pakistan as the country.

On Thursday, at least 88 people were killed, when a suicide bomber attacked the crowded Sufi shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, injuring over 200 others, according to the Director General of Health Services, Sindh.

--IANS

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