Pakistan claims 228 Taliban members killed, tension rises over conflicting statements

Pakistan has claimed that 228 Taliban members were killed and 314 injured in a military operation in Afghanistan. The country's military spokesman gave this information.

In a statement on Friday (February 27), Pakistan Army spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that 74 Taliban command posts were destroyed and 18 people were arrested under 'Operation Ghazab Lil-Haq'.

Earlier in the morning, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's spokesman Musharraf Zaidi said that 133 Taliban fighters were killed and more than 200 were injured.

Pakistan said that 27 of its soldiers were injured in the Taliban attack. On the other hand, the Afghan Taliban government claimed that eight of its fighters were killed and 11 were injured.

In addition, the Taliban government claimed that 55 soldiers were killed in the attack in Pakistan. Afghan authorities said that a major retaliatory attack was carried out on Pakistani military positions along the Durand Line last Wednesday.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have again been embroiled in conflict after months of tension. Last Sunday, Pakistani forces attacked Afghanistan's Nangarhar and Paktika provinces.

The UN mission in Afghanistan said that 13 civilians were killed in the attack. However, Islamabad claims that more than 80 armed fighters were killed in the attack. Kabul said that the death toll was 18.

In response, last Thursday (February 26), Afghan forces attacked the country's military positions on the Pakistani border. Islamabad said that two soldiers were killed.

A day later, Pakistan launched new attacks on the Afghan capital Kabul and Kandahar. The situation was further heated when Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif declared an "open war" against Afghanistan in a post on social media.

The border situation is becoming increasingly unstable due to the conflicting claims and military activities of the two countries.

News Al Jazeera.