KABUL/ISLAMABAD — Pakistan launched fresh airstrikes inside Afghanistan, with Afghan authorities reporting deaths and injuries in an escalation that threatens to shatter nearly three months of relative calm between the two sides.
Afghan news channels reported that strikes occurred in the wee hours of Monday in eastern provinces of Kunar and Paktika. The reported operation came just days after a deadly attack on a police facility in Kohat.
Afghan Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said a house was destroyed, killing three persons. The operation also extended to Barmal district in Paktika, where Afghan officials said two locations were bombed. A shop and an unoccupied house were reportedly destroyed, although no casualties were reported there.
The recent strikes come amid tensions between Islamabad and Kabul, which have remained deeply strained since the two sides engaged in their worst clashes in years in February. The key dispute is Pakistan’s repeated accusation that militant groups are using Afghan territory to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan.
Islamabad specifically blamed militants linked to Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and has demanded that Kabul take action against what Pakistan describes as militant sanctuaries across the border. Afghan Taliban government rejects those allegations and maintains that militancy inside Pakistan is an internal security issue.
The latest airstrikes came after a series of deadly security incidents in Pakistan’s northwestern region. On September 18, a major attack targeted a police facility in Kohat, with Pakistani officials reporting dozens of casualties, including at least 16 deaths in initial reports. The incident was followed by another deadly confrontation involving security personnel in Hangu.
Pakistan had warned that it could target militants inside Afghanistan in response to attacks that Islamabad says are being planned or supported from Afghan territory. Taliba rejected the accusations and condemned previous Pakistani military operations inside Afghanistan.
While Afghan authorities have reported civilian deaths and damage to homes and other property, Pakistani security officials cited by the Associated Press said the strikes targeted suspected militant hideouts and claimed 28 militants were killed.
Those competing casualty and target claims had not been independently verified at the time of reporting. Pakistan’s military had also not immediately issued a formal statement on the operation. The latest strikes therefore come with both sides offering sharply different accounts of what happened on the ground.
For Kabul, the reported civilian casualties have triggered condemnation, while Islamabad’s position centres on its stated objective of targeting militant infrastructure blamed for attacks inside Pakistan.
Kohat Attack Death Toll soars to 31; 8 Militants killed in 22-Hour Clearance Operation
