The 2011 Chitral cross-border attacks were a series of attacks that occurred in the

Chitral district Chitral District (; ) was a district in the Malakand Division of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from 14 August 1947 to 2018. It was the largest district in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, covering an area of 14,850 km2, before spl ...

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a province of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the fourth largest province of Paki ...

, Pakistan. The attacks were carried out by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) who crossed from Afghanistan.

Background

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had escalated their attacks in the western regions of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan. Numerous Pakistani Taliban fighters had sought refuge in Afghanistan as a response to military operations conducted by the Pakistani Army. In Afghanistan, they joined forces with allies to regroup and pose a threat to the border regions of Pakistan.

The attacks

On 28 August 2011, 300 Taliban fighters infiltrated from Afghanistan and carried out a pre-dawn assault on Pakistani paramilitary posts situated in the

of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. This attack commenced by hundreds of Taliban fighters at approximately 4 am and persisted throughout the day. The death toll for the Pakistani Army resulted from this cross-border attack increased to 32–36, with the recovery of six additional bodies belonging to

Chitral scouts The Chitral Scouts (''CS'') (), also known as Chitral Levies, originally raised in 1903 as the militia of the princely state of Chitral, is now part of the Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (North) of Pakistan. They are recruited mostly from ...

. The assault was aimed at checkpoints located in the border village of Arandu in the Chitral district, situated directly across from Afghanistan's

Nuristan province Nuristan, also spelled as Nurestan or Nooristan (Pashto: ; Katë: ), is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country. It is divided into seven districts and is Afghanistan's least populous province, with a ...

. These militants were believed to be affiliated with Pakistani Taliban factions that had previously sought to gain control in the Swat Valley. However, they were compelled to escape into Afghanistan in 2009 due to a successful military operation conducted by the Pakistani military.

Protest

Pakistan formally registered a protest with the

Afghan government The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and informally known as the Taliban government, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is ...

regarding attacks. The Afghan Charge d’Affairs was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to convey this protest. Pakistan expressed its expectation that both ISAF (

International Security Assistance Force The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386, Resolution 1386 ac ...

) and the

Afghan National Army The Islamic National Army (, ), also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army, is the army, land force branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when th ...

would take concrete measures to prevent such incursions by militants and bolster border security to prevent such incidents from recurring.

References

{{reflist 2011 in Pakistan Conflicts in 2011 Terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2011 Military history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Background

The attacks

Protest

See also

References