Pakistani security forces kill 10 militants in a raid near Afghanistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani security forces raided a militant hideout in the restive northwest near the Afghan border, killing 10 militants, the military said Monday.

The military did not provide additional details about the militants killed in Bagh, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. But such operations are often conducted against the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The group is an ally of the Taliban in Afghanistan and has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power there in 2021.

Meanwhile, a main crossing on the Afghan-Pakistan border remained shut Monday for the third day, officials said, after Pakistan closed the key trade route in a dispute over the construction of a post along the border by Afghanistan, authorities said.

The closure since Saturday has disrupted bilateral trade via Torkham.

Abdul Jabbar Hikmat, the commissioner on the Afghan side of the border at Torkham, said whenever Pakistani authorities conduct such construction work on their side of the border, “we say nothing, but whenever we do something, they close” the border crossing.

There was no immediate comment from Pakistan. The two sides often shut Torkham over claims of construction of new border posts along their porous border known as the Durand Line. Afghanistan has never recognized the border, while Pakistan has almost completed fencing along it.