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Pakistan’s military said security forces killed 22 suspected militants during clashes in the country’s northwest this week, while a 10-year-old child also died in the exchange of gunfire.
According to a statement issued Friday by the military’s media wing, troops and law enforcement agencies carried out a joint operation on Tuesday in Khyber district near the Afghan border, leading to a fierce confrontation in which the suspected militants were killed.
Authorities said the child lost his life during the crossfire.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was said to have expressed grief over the child’s death, describing it as the result of unprovoked firing by militants.
Pakistan has witnessed a rise in militant attacks in recent years, many of them claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group, particularly in provinces bordering Afghanistan.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused Afghanistan of allowing militant groups to operate from its territory since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, an allegation Kabul has consistently denied.
The dispute has strained relations between both neighbours and triggered frequent border tensions.
Earlier this year, Pakistan’s military launched a series of strikes inside Afghanistan after several deadly suicide bombings, with the defence minister describing the campaign as an open war.
