Afghan forces hit back at Pak. after air strikes kill 8
Eight civilians were killed on Monday in “reckless” air strikes by Pakistan’s military in the border regions of Afghanistan, prompting Afghan forces to retaliate against Pakistani military outposts, Taliban officials said.
Border tensions between the two countries have risen since the Taliban seized power in 2021, with Islamabad claiming militant groups are carrying out regular attacks from Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani aircraft “bombed civilian homes” in Khost and Paktika provinces near the border with Pakistan at around 3:00 am (22:30 GMT Sunday), adding that all of the dead were women and children.
Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry said its border forces retaliated in response to the airstrikes, targeting Pakistan’s military points along the disputed border with “heavy weapons”.
“The country’s defense and security forces are ready to respond to any aggressive actions and will defend their territorial integrity at all cost,” spokesman Enayatullah Khwarizmi said on X.
Crossborder skirmishes in the region were reported by both sides into Monday afternoon.
The Taliban government “strongly condemns these attacks and calls this reckless action a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty”, Mr. Mujahid said in his statement. “Such incidents can have very bad consequences which will be out (of ) Pakistan’s control.”
Malak Noor Khan, a tribal elder in the Sperah district of Khost, said he saw at least four explosives dropped from drones and jets. “All those targeted are refugees from Waziristan, they are not militants, they are not terrorists,” he said.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry said on X, it had summoned the head of the Pakistani embassy in Kabul to protest Monday’s strikes. It called on Pakistan’s government to “not allow some circles to complicate the relationship between two neighbouring Muslim countries”.
Border tensions between the two countries have risen since the Taliban seized power in 2021