Pakistani forces respond to fresh Afghan border firing in South Waziristan, forcing Taliban posts to be abandoned, district official says
Pakistani security forces responded immediately to unprovoked firing from Afghan border posts in Lower South Waziristan on Sunday, targeting multiple posts, mortar positions and defensive checkpoints, the district deputy commissioner said, with no casualties reported on the Pakistani side so far.
Pakistani security forces responded on Sunday to fresh firing from Afghan border posts in Lower South Waziristan, forcing Afghan Taliban personnel to abandon several positions, according to the district administration. The deputy commissioner of Lower South Waziristan said in a post on the social media platform X that unprovoked firing from Afghan border posts onto Pakistani border checkpoints was continuing, and that Pakistani forces had answered it immediately and effectively.
The official account said the response targeted multiple Afghan border posts, mortar positions and defensive checkpoints across the border. It said the strength of the Pakistani reply forced Afghan Taliban fighters to leave their posts and flee. The deputy commissioner added that, so far, no casualties had been reported from the border areas on the Pakistani side, and that Pakistani forces remained prepared to deliver a full response to any further aggression.
The account of the exchange comes from the district administration rather than from the military. Pakistan’s military media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, had not commented on the latest exchange at the time the district official’s statement was reported on Sunday night. That distinction matters, because the details of which positions were hit, and any losses on the Afghan side, have so far been given only in the district official’s post and have not been independently confirmed.
The firing was reported in the Angoor Adda area, a crossing point in South Waziristan that has repeatedly been at the centre of recent border clashes. Angoor Adda sits on a busy route between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Paktika province, used for trade and for the movement of people, so any sustained exchange of fire there carries consequences beyond the military positions themselves, affecting local residents, traders and families living near the border.
Sunday’s exchange follows a pattern of clashes in the same area over the past week. On Tuesday 27 October, Afghan forces opened fire on Pakistani border posts and civilian areas in Angoor Adda, according to Pakistani officials and state media. A mortar shell struck a house in a residential area, killing one civilian and injuring five members of a family. Pakistan’s armed forces then responded with heavy weaponry, and state media reported that several Afghan Taliban posts in areas adjacent to South Waziristan and Parachinar were destroyed.
That earlier incident also produced sharply different accounts from the two sides. Afghanistan’s defence ministry accused Pakistan of being the aggressor, a claim Pakistan dismissed as a fabrication of lies. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi condemned the October firing and said Pakistan would never tolerate attacks on its people or violations of its sovereignty. The competing versions underline how difficult it is, in the first hours of a border incident, to establish a single agreed account of who fired first and what damage was done.
The latest exchange also arrives against a much broader deterioration in relations between Islamabad and Kabul. Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban authorities of failing to act against militant groups operating from Afghan soil, a charge Kabul rejects. On Sunday, Pakistan’s military spokesman, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, warned in an interview that the Afghan Taliban lacked the capacity to withstand a Pakistani response, a statement that set the tone for the day’s border reporting even before the South Waziristan firing was confirmed.
For people living along the border, the immediate question is whether Sunday’s exchange remains a short, contained clash or grows into something longer. In recent days, exchanges have tended to flare, draw a forceful Pakistani reply, and then pause, without developing into a sustained campaign. Local officials have, however, warned residents to expect further firing, and the deputy commissioner’s statement that forces remain prepared for any aggression suggests the Pakistani side is treating the situation as still live rather than closed.
What happens next could take several forms. The military may issue its own statement confirming or adding to the district account, which would give a clearer picture of the positions involved. Kabul may respond with its own version of events, as it did after the October clash, which would again leave two competing accounts. Diplomatic channels between the two sides, or through intermediaries, could also be used to lower the temperature, particularly if civilian areas come under fire again.
Another possibility is that the border remains tense but quiet in the coming days, with both sides holding their positions and trading statements rather than fire. That outcome would still leave the underlying dispute unresolved: Pakistan’s demand that Afghan soil not be used for attacks against it, and Kabul’s rejection of blame for those attacks. Until that dispute is addressed, residents of Angoor Adda and the surrounding border districts are likely to remain exposed to further sudden exchanges, and News Orbit Live will update this story when the military comments, when Kabul responds, or when further firing is reported.
More in Pakistan News
PakistanPakistan reports eighth polio case of 2026 as 13-month-old girl in Khyber tests positive, days before nationwide vaccination drive
PakistanPakistan LPG marketers announce nationwide strike from November 16 over proposed pricing formula, warning of 25-30% price rise
Pakistan