At least seven Pakistani soldiers were killed by the Pakistani Taliban in the deadliest attack in the country's troubled tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack that was carried out in South Waziristan overnight. Another four soldiers were wounded.
National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf confirmed the attack at a briefing in the capital but did not share any further details.
Hundreds of TTP fighters and the group's former deputy, Maulvi Faqir Muhammad, known for his close ties to al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, were freed from Afghan jails after the fall of Kabul.
Yusuf said that the Taliban government had promised that Afghan soil would not be used for attacks on Pakistan, in a discussion about the TTP.
The TTP differs from the Afghan Taliban in the way it is organized.
The TTP is an umbrella organization for more than a dozen militant groups operating in Pakistan and is responsible for the deaths of around 80,000 people during two decades of violence.
The group launched 32 attacks against Pakistani soldiers and police from their former stronghold regions near the Afghan border in August alone, according to a tally of bombings and gun assaults claimed by the TTP.
Pakistan's armed forces pushed back the once formidable group into neighbouring Afghanistan in a series of offensives since 2014.
