Pakistan’s security forces have launched a major military operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, carrying out ground assaults and precision airstrikes in response to a recent wave of deadly militant attacks, officials said.

According to the Pakistani government, the operation targeted suspected militant hideouts in eastern Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of 29 fighters.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the military struck three locations in the Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika and Kunar.

“Three targets in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar were destroyed during precision strikes,” Tarar said in a post on social media.

The Afghan Taliban government condemned the operation, with deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat claiming the airstrikes killed at least 36 civilians and injured 163 others.

The differing casualty figures could not be independently verified.

Pakistan has experienced a sharp increase in attacks targeting police, military personnel and other security forces in recent years.

Authorities have blamed the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), commonly known as the Pakistan Taliban, and allied militant organizations for much of the violence.

The latest military operation follows a deadly assault on Friday against the regional headquarters of the Pakistan Rangers in the southern port city of Karachi.

Officials said militants armed with guns and explosives attacked the facility, killing three soldiers.

Security forces later killed three of the attackers and arrested another suspect, whom the Pakistani military identified as an injured Afghan national.

Responsibility for the Karachi attack was claimed by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter faction of the Pakistan Taliban.

Tarar said the latest cross-border operation specifically targeted safe havens and bases used by the Pakistan Taliban to launch attacks inside Pakistan.

Although the Pakistan Taliban and the Afghan Taliban are separate organizations, they maintain close ideological and operational ties, a relationship that has remained a source of tension between Islamabad and Kabul.

The latest escalation underscores growing security concerns along the shared border as Pakistan continues efforts to combat militant groups operating in the region.