A militant assault on a Sindh Rangers compound in Karachi, claimed by a Pakistani Taliban faction, triggered a rapid Pakistani military response across the Afghan border, where security forces killed 29 fighters in ground operations and airstrikes on Sunday, according to Pakistani officials. The attack on the paramilitary headquarters Saturday night left three Rangers dead and four wounded after assailants detonated a vehicle-borne device and opened fire. Pakistani forces killed three militants at the scene and captured a fourth, described as an Afghan national. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), asserted responsibility, while Pakistan’s military and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif alleged—without providing evidence—that the group acted as an “Indian proxy” intent on undermining Pakistani stability.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs rejected the charge as “baseless” in a statement Sunday, urging Islamabad to “look inwards” and dismantle terror networks operating on its soil. “Instead of pointing fingers at others, Pakistan would do better to take credible action against the terror infrastructure on its territory and rid itself of its proclivity to rely on terrorism as an instrument of state policy,” the Indian spokesperson said. The exchange extends a familiar pattern of recrimination between the nuclear-armed neighbours, each accusing the other of feeding instability in the other’s backyard.

Pakistan’s cross-border counterstroke, which Islamabad termed “calibrated strikes,” targeted three provinces inside Afghanistan—Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar—and followed a ground operation in the Pakistani border district of Bajaur. According to Pakistan’s information minister, a high-value militant commander was among four killed in Bajaur, while the subsequent air raids destroyed camps and weapons caches, killing 25 more fighters. The Afghan Taliban government has consistently denied giving sanctuary to cross-border militants, but Pakistani officials argue that TTP safe havens have proliferated since Kabul’s return to power in 2021, fuelling a wave of attacks on Pakistani security forces that deepens an already tense bilateral relationship.

No immediate reaction came from Kabul. The Karachi assault was the city’s most significant militant strike since an October 2024 explosion that killed two Chinese nationals. As Pakistan vows to “wipe out foreign-sponsored terrorism,” the episode reopens a long‑standing regional security dilemma: while Pakistan accuses external powers of exploiting Islamist violence, its neighbours demand that it dismantle groups that have long operated within and from its borders. For now, the dossier remains open, with Pakistani security operations continuing in Karachi and no signs of de‑escalation along the Durand Line.