This combination photo shows Havaldar Taimoor (L), Naik Shoaib (C) and Sepoy Saqib Nawaz (R). Twitter photo

Militants in Afghanistan fired heavy weapons across the border into a Pakistani military outpost overnight, killing three personnel, the army said on Saturday, in the latest violence to rattle the volatile region.

A firefight ensued with the militants firing towards the army post in North Waziristan region, and several were killed, the statement said.

According to the military’s media wing, Pakistani troops responded in a befitting manner and as per credible intelligence reports, terrorists suffered heavy casualties.

However, during the exchange of fire, three Pakistan army soldiers also embraced martyrdom, the ISPR added.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), during the gunfight, Havaldar Taimoor (resident of Jhelum, age 30 years), Sepoy Saqib Nawaz (resident of Sialkot, age 24 years), and Naik Shoaib (resident of Attock, age 38 years) having fought gallantly, embraced martyrdom.

“Pakistan strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against Pakistan and expects that Afghan government will not allow such activities, in future,” the military's media wing said.

It further added that Pakistan army is determined to defend Pakistan's borders against the menace of terrorism and “such sacrifices of our brave men further strengthen our resolve.”

The striking increase in attacks in Afghanistan — as well as in neighbouring Pakistan — highlights the growing security challenge facing Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, who swept to power last August in the closing days of the chaotic withdrawal of American and Nato troops ending their 20-year war.

However a vicious Daesh affiliate known as Daesh in Khorasn Province, or Daesh-K — which claimed the recent spate of attacks in Afghanistan as well as a growing number in neighbouring Pakistan — is proving an intractable challenge.

Daesh-K took responsibility for a series of attacks across Afghanistan on Thursday, most of which targeted the country's minority Shiites.

The violent Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or (TTP) — which the United Nations says numbers around 10,000 in Afghanistan — has stepped up its assault on Pakistan's military outposts from its Afghan hideouts. Even the upstart Daesh-K has taken responsibility for some of the attacks targeting Pakistani military personnel, damaging relations between the two countries.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have promised no militant group would use its soil as a base to attack another country, but Kabul has yet to arrest or hand over any TTP leaders in Afghanistan to Pakistan.

After seven of its troops were killed in an ambush earlier this month, Pakistan on April 16 retaliated with bombing raids inside Afghanistan that locals in Afghanistan's eastern Khost province said killed dozens of refugees.

Agencies