Twelve fighters were killed and a Pakistani soldier was martyred when security forces stopped infiltrators trying to cross into Kurram from Afghanistan, the military said in reports published on 12 October 2026. The Kurram operation, as described by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the armed forces’ public information office, turned back that bid during intense firing on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The Nation and Business Recorder, both with Rawalpindi datelines, carried the release. Dawn reported the same toll and credited ISPR.
What the military says happened
ISPR said those trying to cross were Khwarij, the name it uses for the militants in this account, and Afghan Taliban coming from Afghanistan. Troops who were already alert stopped them. The release said Afghan Taliban posts also opened fire to support the Khwarij. It credited “precise engagement” by the soldiers and said that fire “resulted in killing of twelve Khwarij and Afghan Taliban.”
The military presented the clash as support for a border complaint it has made before. The release said the episode bears out Pakistan’s view that the Afghan Taliban administration has not denied its soil to a terrorist organisation and instead facilitates and patronises cross-border terrorism. ISPR added that the administration has consistently failed to honour its international counter-terrorism obligations. These reports do not include an Afghan response.
The soldier killed in the firefight
Naib Subedar Hidayat Aman was martyred in the exchange of fire. ISPR said he was 40 years old and a resident of Ghizer district. A naib subedar is a junior commissioned officer in the Pakistan Army. The release said he fought gallantly and embraced shahadat, the term the military uses when a soldier is killed in the line of duty, and that such sacrifices reinforce the commitment to defend the frontier.
Punjab chief minister’s tribute
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, in remarks reported from Lahore, paid tribute to the forces for foiling the infiltration in Kurram district and referred to the terrorists killed in Kurram. The Nation and Business Recorder both reported the remarks. She offered condolences to the family of Naib Subedar Hidayat Aman and praised his sacrifice in defence of the country.
What happens next
After the Kurram operation, Business Recorder’s text of the ISPR news release said a sanitisation operation, a sweep of the area, was still being conducted. The stated aim was to eliminate any other fighter the release called an “Indian sponsored” Kharji. That claim is ISPR’s; the article does not supply separate evidence for it. The release placed the effort under Azm-e-Istehkam, a counter-terrorism campaign approved by the Federal Apex Committee on the National Action Plan, and said the security forces and law-enforcement agencies would continue it at full pace.
