'Righteous Fury': Operation Ghazab lil-Haq

Security sources said that a notable Afghan Taliban commander who attempted to cross the border was killed in Landi Kotal.

According to sources, a group led by the terrorist commander was trying to approach the Torkham border last night.

It said that armed forces, acting on solid intelligence information, targeted the group, killing the terrorist commander and his companions.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has held a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which the latter said Turkiye would “contribute to the re-establishment of the ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan”.

According to a post on X by the Turkish Presidency, the two leaders discussed ties between Pakistan and Turkiye and also “regional and global issues”.

“Condemning the terror attacks carried out in Pakistan, President Erdogan said Turkiye will continue to stand by Pakistan in its anti-terror fight, and that it will contribute to the re-establishment of the ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan, reached through Turkiye’s initiatives as well,” the Presidency said.

Security forces have carried out an intelligence-based operation in the Domel tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district that reportedly left several militants injured, security sources said.

According to security sources, the operation took place within the jurisdiction of Domel Police Station in the area of Kotka Akbar Ali Khan.

A quadcopter drone strike targeted a room near a tube well where the presence of militants had allegedly been reported, they added.

The security sources stated that after the initial strike, the injured militants were being shifted by their associates on motorcycles to an undisclosed location when a second quadcopter strike was launched.

Reports of intense clashes have once again emerged from areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mohmand district, with heavy firing continuing intermittently.

According to eyewitnesses, exchanges of fire and shelling persisted at intervals since early hours, with the sound of heavy weaponry echoing across several border villages.

The escalating situation also prompted multiple families to begin relocating to safer areas amid concerns of further violence.

Residents said that 54 educational institutions and local markets had been closed as a precautionary measure, disrupting daily life and compounding anxiety in the affected communities.

So far, the district administration has not issued an official statement regarding the unfolding situation.

Pakistan’s armed forces have destroyed the Khugyani base during a successful air strike in Afghanistan, security sources said.

According to security sources, the forces are continuing effective ground and air operations against the Afghan Taliban and Fitna Al Khawarij.

They stated that Pakistani forces carried out a successful air strike in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, destroying the Khugyani base.

The sources added that following the unprovoked aggression, Fitna Al Khawarij and Afghan Taliban elements were facing a strong pushback on all fronts.

Operation Ghazab Lil Haq remained underway and would continue until its objectives were achieved, the security sources said.

The Pakistan armed forces have killed 464 Afghan Taliban personnel as of 4pm today as operation Ghazab lil-Haq continues.

In an update posted on X, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that as of 4pm on March 3, security forces have injured over 665 Afghan Taliban personnel, destroyed 188 checkposts, and captured 31 posts.

He further detailed that 192 tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery guns have been destroyed, and 56 locations across Afghanistan have been “effectively” targeted by air.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has reiterated its call for a halt in cross-border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“UNAMA also calls on all parties to comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, and to ensure the protection of civilians,” it said in a press release issued in Kabul.

State-run PTV reported that the Pakistan armed forces have successfully conducted an air operation in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, destroying the Khogani base, citing security sources.

“The Kharijite sedition and Afghan Taliban are facing a full retreat on every front following their unprovoked aggression,” the sources added, according to PTV.

The information minister has said that 40 Afghan Taliban personnel were killed in overnight operations in KhyberPakhtunkhwa.

“Physical attack was attempted at one place, while a fire raid was conducted on 12 locations, which were all repulsed without any loss of life,” he said in an update posted on X.

“40 Afghan Taliban were killed in the overnight operations in KP,” he said, adding that “follow-up” operations continued.

He said that a detailed update will be given in the afternoon.

Security forces have killed 27 Afghan Taliban personnel in overnight operations in Balochistan in retaliation to Afghan Taliban launching a “physical attack” on 16 locations in the north of the province.

In an update posted on X, Information Minister Ataullah Tarrar said, “Afghan Taliban resorted to physical attack on 16 locations in Northern Balochistan in Qilla Saifullah, Noshki and Chaman Districts while engaging our troops on 25 locations in fire raid”.

“The attack at all the locations [has] been effectively repulsed with Afghan Taliban suffering 27 killed and scores injured,” the minister added.

“One soldier of FC Balochistan North gave the ultimate sacrifice while defending the motherland, while five soldiers are injured,” Tarrar further said.

A police constable has been martyred after unidentified militants launched a late-night attack on Mulazai police station in Tank district.

According to a police official, armed assailants opened heavy and automatic gunfire on the police station from two sides on Monday night. Personnel deployed inside the premises retaliated, triggering an intense exchange of fire that continued for some time.

Constable Jehanzaib, who was on duty at the time, was critically hit during the assault and embraced martyrdom, officials said.

His funeral prayers were later offered with full official honours at the Police Lines.

State-run PTV reported that the Pakistan armed forces have targeted Afghan Taliban fighters in Jalalabad amid the ongoing operation, inflicting heavy losses.

Security sources said that an ammunition depot and drone storage in Jalalabad have been destroyed “through full-scale aerial action”.

“In response to the aggression of the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistan armed forces’ effective and devastating counter-attacks have inflicted heavy losses on the Afghan Taliban and the Kharijite rebels,” it added.

The Pakistan Air Force has struck the Bagram air base during ongoing Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against the Afghan Taliban, according to security sources.

The sources referred to a report they said was issued by Afghanistan’s defence ministry and detailed the damage caused by the strike.

They said, citing the report, that Black Hawk helicopters, a Hurcules cargo aircraft, a Tucano aircraft, armoured vehicles and other military equipment were destroyed in the strike.

There are reports that intermittent shelling along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mohmand district continues.

It has also been reported that helicopters and jet aircraft were seen flying in the sky as part of stepped-up aerial surveillance.

Authorities say no “major casualties” have been reported as a result of the cross-border firing.

A senior security official has said that Pakistan is in no hurry to wind up Operation Ghazab lil-Haq and will continue cross-border action against terrorist sanctuaries inside Afghanistan until Kabul offers verifiable guarantees against terrorism facilitation.

“Pakistan is in no hurry to end Operation Ghazab lil-Haq. It’s time for terrorism supporters and abettors to bleed and suffer,” the official said. according a the brief shared with Dawn.

He said: “Operations in Afghanistan will end when Afghanistan’s Taliban regime provides verifiable assurance of compliance to Pakistan’s demand of quitting the facilitation of Fitna-al-Khawarij and Fitna-al-Hindustan. We are in no hurry.”

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The Ministry for Information and Broadcasting says that reports about strikes on Pakistani military sites are false, calling them an “unverified Taliban claim amplified as propaganda by fake pages and Indian media”.

“No evidence (satellite imagery, flight data, videos from the ground, or local eyewitnesses) has been provided to substantiate the claim,” the ministry’s fact check account on X stated.

It added that Afghanistan had no operational air force since the Taliban took power in 2021 and that no intrusions were detected by the “advanced air defence” system at the Nur Khan base in Rawalpindi.

The district administration has closed down 37 public and private sector schools in the border areas of Khyber.

According to an official statement, the decision was taken in light of constant provocations from the Afghan side during the last four to five days.

“Our primary concern is to safeguard the lives of students and the teaching staff in these schools,” the statement added.

It said that the institutions that would be closed included 29 boys’ schools and eight girls’ schools.

At least four persons, including a minor girl, were injured when a mortar shell fired from across the border fell near a residential compound in Landi Kotal.

According to the officials, the artillery shell fired from Afghanistan hit a congested locality in the Sadokhel area of Landi Kotal, minutes before Iftar.

They said that four people, including a minor girl, were hit by the shrapnel of the mortar shell and were immediately shifted to the local hospital, where their condition was stated to be out of danger.

Two more mortar shells fired from the Afghan side also hit the official residence of the Landi Kotal tehsildar. However, no loss of life was reported.

Ishaq Dar further says that Pakistan’s actions during the operation were “very cery careful”.

“In this operation, initially 22 locations in Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, Nangarhar, Khost and Paktika were subjected to aerial targeting and all these targets were military installations, which were carefully selected based on our intelligence,” Dar said in his press briefing.

“As a result of Pakistan’s befitting response to Afghan Taliban regime, valiant forces targeted 37 locations in Afghanistan, 415 Taliban regime personnel and khwarij were eliminated, 182 posts completely destroyed, 31 posts captured, 185 tanks and APCs destroyed.”

Ishaq Dar has said that Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq “in self-defence, carrying out precise and targeted operations against seven terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to the TTP and IS-KP in Afghanistan”.

The deputy prime minister asserted that Pakistan’s “actions were proportionate, minimum and measured, with careful planning in order to make sure that only the terrorist camps and hideouts are hit and civilian populations should not be targeted”.

Dar mentioned there were “provocative actions by the Afghan Taliban on 53 locations across 15 sectors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” on the night of February 26.

“Now this is horrifying and this is totally lunatic. It’s like going mad,” he remarked, adding that such actions were “totally a no-go for Pakistan”.

Dar further says that the repeated terrorist activities originating from Afghan soil had “led us, forced us to now take it seriously”.

He recalled “high-profile” incidents, including the Islamabad court bombing, the coordinated BLA attacks across Balochistan and the February 6 imambargah suicide bombing.

“Pakistan has conclusive evidence that the recent acts of terrorism in Bajaur and Bannu were perpetrated by TTP at the behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers,” Dar asserted.

He added that prior to launching the ongoing operation, Pakistan “carried out intelligence-based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts on February 21”.

Deputy PM Ishaq Dar has said Pakistan had no choice but to launch the ongoing operation after repeated terrorist attacks.

“We have the capacity, we have the will, we have the kinetic capability ot handle it in a very meaningful way. But we have been exercising extreme restraint and doing minimum reaction to what has been happening.

“What you are seeing is absolutely minimum in self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter,” he said, adding that Pakistan exercised “more care” as it was currently part of the UNSC as a non-permanent member.

Dar recalled the talks between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban held in Qatar and Turkiye after the October clashes. “But the outcome was nothing, nil,” he stated for both rounds of talks.

“So we had now no choice but to launch Operation Ghazab lil-Haq in response to repeated terrorist attacks by Fitna Al Khawarij and Fitna Al Hindustan against Pakistan emanating from Afghanistan soil, as well as the recent unwarranted and provocative actions by the Afghan Taliban regime on the night of 26th February,” Dar asserted.

Ishaq Dar reiterates that Pakistan’s only demand was: “Please do not allow the TTP, the BLA, the Majeed Brigade, which have been proscribed by many countries, to allow them or provide facilitation.

“This is the only issue we have. As long as it is handled, it is removed, we have no issue with Afghanistan.”

Dar asserted that Pakistan has “always been wishing to have the best of the best with relations with all neighbours, including particularly Afghanistan”.

The deputy PM then recalled “serious violations” that took place in October 2025, adding that soldiers were being martyred every week, which “is certainly not acceptable under any circumstances”.

Acknowledging that a religious decree had been issued by the Afghan Taliban regarding terrorism, Ishaq Dar noted, “But there is no verifiable action which would have actually endorsed that that fatwa (edict) is being implemented.”

“Things have been going fairly hot in the recent past,” Dar remarked, pointing out that Afghanistan and Pakistan had elevated their diplomatic relations last year.

Dar pointed out that Pakistan had facilitated Afghan-origin and Afghanistan-bound trucks to and from India during the May 2025 conflict with New Delhi.

He noted the agreement to extend the CPEC project to Afghanistan, the convening of the Joint Coordination Committee meeting on border and security issues, the grant of 4,500 scholarships to Afghan students, humanitarian relief assistance following an earthquake, a liberal visa regime for Afghans, and Pakistan’s “proactive” role in international forums on Afghanistan.

During his media talk, Ishaq Dar recalled the trilateral meeting of Pakistan, China and Afghanistan held in August 2025.

“That was again a positive meeting […] By the way, in all these meetings, Pakistan’s ask has only been one from Afghanistan — not a long wishlist — and that is please do not allow your soil to be used for terrorism against any neighbouring countries, particularly Pakistan.

“This is the only ask, right in April, July and August. And unfortunately, that has not been complied with.”

Dar said the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (UAP) Railway Project, on which work had been underway since 2023 and an agreement was signed in July 2025, was now “in cold storage”.