Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday (September 27, 2026) that its forces had killed 28 fighters and wounded 32 in the eastern province of Nuristan, after a group it said included Islamic State militants crossed from Pakistan.
It comes less than a week after Pakistan launched airstrikes inside Afghanistan, saying it had targeted militants. Afghan forces launched an operation, and the surviving fighters fled back across the border towards Pakistani militia positions, it said. Afghan officials said civilians were killed, and the U.N. mission in Afghanistan confirmed three civilian deaths.
The Ministry alleged Pakistani militias had supported the fighters, and that most of them were former Afghan government security personnel. Pakistan’s military and Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and Reuters could not independently verify the Ministry’s account or its casualty figures. Kabul’s claim that Pakistani intelligence trained and sent former Afghan security personnel across the border is a direct allegation of state involvement in an armed incursion. Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan of sheltering fighters who attack its territory, a charge Kabul denies. It alleged that Pakistani armed personnel and militia members had coordinated with the fighters, but withdrew when fighting began. The Ministry also accused Pakistani intelligence of taking former Afghan security personnel to Pakistan under the pretext of offering them assistance, training them and sending them towards Nuristan.
The Ministry said the group crossed into Kamdesh, a district of Nuristan near the Pakistani border, on Saturday (September 26, 2026), intending to carry out attacks. The incident follows Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan on September 21, 2026, that Islamabad said killed 28 militants.
