Pakistan Says Airstrikes Hit Militants in Afghanistan, Kabul Reports Civilian Deaths

By Staff, Agencies

Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan have killed nine civilians, including women and children, and injured 11 others, Kabul said Thursday.

The strikes targeted Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar and southern Helmand provinces, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. He condemned the attacks as an “act of aggression and a crime that violates all recognized principles.”

Pakistan said the raids instead killed 22 militants at hideouts in two locations. Its Information Ministry said the operation was based on “credible intelligence” and selectively targeted militant camps and hideouts.

“The threat to Pakistan emanates from Afghanistan. In this context, our action precisely targeted the terrorist hubs,” the ministry said. Islamabad has repeatedly accused armed groups based in Afghanistan of carrying out attacks inside Pakistan.

The latest strikes mark the third time in two weeks that Pakistan has conducted attacks inside Afghanistan. Last week, Pakistani aircraft struck Kandahar and other provinces, killing four civilians, according to the Taliban government.

The renewed escalation followed a militant attack on a police facility in northwestern Pakistan last month that killed 24 people. Provincial police blamed the attack on the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of allowing the TTP to operate from Afghan territory and stage cross-border attacks. Kabul denies providing the group safe haven and says militancy targeting Pakistan is an “internal issue.”

The latest escalation ended roughly three months of relative calm between the two neighbors. Fighting had intensified sharply in February before China-mediated talks produced a fragile ceasefire in March. Mujahid said Afghanistan was defending itself after Pakistan violated its territory, while stressing that Kabul did not want the fighting to continue.

The UN mission in Afghanistan has recorded more than 1,100 deaths and injuries from cross-border violence so far this year.