Afghan Taliban’s Retaliatory Actions: Eight Pakistani Security Personnel Killed In Ambush | Exclusive

Last Updated:March 18, 2026, 16:32 IST

There was heavy firing reported till the filing of this report, with Pakistani troops responding to the attack, CNN-News18 has learnt. 

At least eight Pakistani soldiers lost their lives and 13 were injured in an incident of cross-border firing and attack on a military check-post from Afghanistan on the Ghulam Khan border crossing, North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhthwa province. There was heavy firing reported till the filing of this report, with Pakistani troops responding to the attack, CNN-News18 has learnt.

The incident comes amid a sharp escalation in tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, following recent cross-border strikes and military actions. Pakistani forces have carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including locations in Kabul, which Afghan authorities claim resulted in significant civilian casualties. Afghan Taliban authorities have condemned the strikes and warned of retaliation, as hostilities along the border intensify with continued exchanges of fire and military activity reported across multiple sectors of the frontier.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid alleged that the Pakistani military deliberately targeted hospitals, schools and madrasahs to “perpetrate terror and horror" among civilians. He said Pakistani forces were employing tactics similar to Israeli military operations against innocent civilians and claimed the strikes were not isolated military actions but part of a sustained pattern of aggression.

This comes as India lashed out at Pakistan after strikes on a hospital in Afghanistan’s Kabul left at least 400 people dead and over 250 injured. The Ministry of External Affairs called the strikes “barbaric, cowardly and unconscionable" and also accused Pakistan of trying to “dress up a massacre as a military operation".

The government also said that the timing of the attack, in the holy month of Ramzan, makes it even more reprehensible. “There is no faith, no law, and no morality that can justify the deliberate targeting of a hospital and its patients," the MEA said. The government further added that the attack was an assault on Afghanistan’s sovereignty and “a direct threat to regional peace and stability".

“It reflects Pakistan’s persistent pattern of reckless behaviour and its repeated attempts to externalize internal failures through increasingly desperate acts of violence beyond its borders," it said.

News world Afghan Taliban’s Retaliatory Actions: Eight Pakistani Security Personnel Killed In Ambush | Exclusive

Read More