Firing from Afghanistan kills 5 Pakistan troops

At least five Pakistan soldiers were killed by firing from neighbouring Afghanistan, Islamabad said Sunday, in an attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.
It comes just days after Baloch separatists in the southwest killed nine Pakistan troops in a series of brazen attacks that officials said involved planners from Afghanistan as well as India.
After seizing power in August, Afghanistan’s Taliban pledged terror groups would not be allowed to operate from the country, but Pakistan militant groups have long taken sanctuary across the porous border.
They include the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which on Sunday claimed responsibility for the attack in the Kurram district of rugged Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The TTP has been emboldened by the return to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan and has stepped up attacks since a month-long truce with the Pakistan government ended last year.
The Taliban are separate groups in both countries, but share a common ideology and draw from people who live on either side of the border.
The TTP said it killed six Pakistani troops in Saturday night’s attack, but the Pakistan military’s public relations wing (ISPR) said five Frontier Corps members had died.
“Own troops responded in a befitting manner,” it said, adding “terrorists suffered heavy causalities”.
Pakistan “strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists”, ISPR said.
The army “is determined to defend Pakistan’s borders against the menace of terrorism, and such sacrifices of our brave men further strengthen our resolve”.