A large group of terrorists equipped with the latest weapons attacked two Pakistani military posts located closer to the Pak-Afghan border in the general area of Kalash, in the Chitral district on Wednesday.
According to the Pak Army's media wing, the ISPR, during the fire exchange, 12 terrorists were sent to hell, while a large number were critically injured. However, four soldiers of the Pak army, having fought gallantly, embraced Shahadat.
Sanitization of the area is being carried out to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area.
The ISPR said owing to the heightened threat environment, its own posts were already on high alert so the soldiers fought bravely and repulsed the attacks inflicting heavy casualties to the terrorists.
The security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our soldiers further strengthen our resolve.
The brave people of Chitral also stand firmly with the security forces in not allowing the terrorists to ruin the peace of the area.
The interim Afghan Government is expected to fulfil its obligations and deny the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for perpetrating acts of terrorism against Pakistan.
Terrorists’ movement and concentration in Gawardesh, Pitigal, Barg-e-Matel and Batash areas of Nuristan and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan had already been picked up and were timely shared with the Interim Afghan Government.
The AFP added that Pakistan troops repelled a cross-border raid from Afghanistan by "hundreds" of Pakistan Taliban militants on Wednesday, a senior official said, with extra forces rushed to the rugged frontier region.
"They were in hundreds and were armed with light and heavy weapons. We were ready to face the attack and exchange of fire continued for some four hours," Mohammad Ali, deputy commissioner of Chitral district, told AFP.
Pakistan's home-grown Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) movement has been emboldened by the return to power of the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021, and Islamabad regularly accuses its neighbour of harbouring militants -- a charge they deny.
"They were in hundreds and were armed with light and heavy weapons. We were ready to face the attack and exchange of fire continued for some four hours," Mohammad Ali, deputy commissioner of Chitral district, told AFP.
In a statement, the Pakistan military's public relations wing said "a large group of terrorists equipped with latest weapons" attacked two outposts in the area.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said four Pakistan troops were killed, while "12 terrorists were sent to hell".
"We were monitoring their movements in areas close to the border for two or three days," deputy commissioner Ali said.
"Informers have also sent us information about the militant group movement."
In a statement, the TTP claimed to have seized two military posts in the Bomburit area of Chitral, which is around 200 kilometres (125 miles) northwest of the capital Islamabad.
The Pakistan Taliban share a common hardline Islamist ideology with their Afghan counterparts.
The group was founded in 2007, when militants who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan splintered off to focus their insurgency against Islamabad as payback for supporting America's post-9/11 invasion there.
Police official Karim Khan told AFP that security forces had sealed entry to Chitral, a rugged area of steep hills and valleys popular with domestic tourists.
Another official said troops and paramilitary forces had been rushed in to reinforce the district.
"Sanitization of the area is being carried out to eliminate any other terrorists," ISPR said.
At the height of their power, the TTP held sway over swathes of mountain communities, enforcing austere Islamic law, and patrolling land just 140 kilometres north of the capital.
But the Pakistani military came down hard after 2014 when TTP militants raided a school for children of army personnel and killed nearly 150 people, most of them pupils.
Its fighters were largely routed into neighbouring Afghanistan, but now Islamabad claims the TTP are using Taliban-controlled Afghanistan as a foothold to stage assaults across the border.
Over the first 12 months of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, Pakistan witnessed a 50 percent surge in militant attacks, focussed in the western border provinces according to the Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).