Pakistan claims 200 Taliban, allied fighters killed in border clashes

Pakistan’s military claimed Sunday that at least 200 Taliban and affiliated fighters were killed in overnight border clashes, in what it described as a large-scale response to an unprovoked attack by Taliban forces along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

In its first official statement on the incident, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the fighting occurred overnight between October 11 and 12 and involved exchanges of fire and cross-border raids. The military claimed it destroyed Taliban posts, camps and support infrastructure across multiple locations along the Durand Line, the disputed frontier between the two countries.

Twenty-three Pakistani soldiers were killed and 29 others wounded, according to the statement. The military also claimed to have temporarily captured 21 Taliban positions and destroyed several sites it described as militant training facilities.

While Pakistan attributed the assault to the Taliban and what it called “affiliated terrorist groups,” the Taliban have rejected claims that they host