Afghanistan’s Taliban says Pakistani airstrikes killed 36 civilians, Pakistan says 29 were soldiers.
Pakistan’s security forces conducted a ground operation near the Pakistan-Afghanistan At the border on Sunday, which was followed by “limited strikes” targeting military hideouts and safe havens, 29 fighters were killed, officials said. In a post on X, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation was launched in response to multiple military attacks across the country.
The Taliban regime in Afghanistan said on Monday, however, that 36 civilians, including women and children, were killed in the strikes and more than 150 others were injured in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces.
Deputy Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat posted graphic images on social media showing children, including an infant, allegedly injured in the strikes receiving medical attention. CBS News could not independently verify the claims from Pakistani or Afghan officials.
“In Mandukhel village, which is part of Chamanai district in Paktia province, Pakistani warplanes bombed a house, which resulted in the death of an elderly believer and a child, and injured all the family members. When the residents gathered to rescue the injured, the plane targeted them with a bomb for the second time, resulting in his second death,” said Fit. send to X.
The Taliban-run Foreign Ministry in Afghanistan, in a separate statement, said it had summoned Pakistani officials to Kabul to present a “strong and firm” protest over the bombing and violation of the Afghanistan airstrike.
The attack came a day after militants armed with guns and explosives attacked the regional headquarters of Pakistan’s paramilitary Rangers in a port south of Karachi, killing three soldiers. The soldiers killed three attackers and arrested another attacker, whom the soldiers identified as an Afghan, who was wounded.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter group from the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack in a statement on Saturday night.
Tarar said Pakistan’s recent operation on the Afghan border targeted the hideouts and safe havens of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Kwarij, which is the term Pakistan uses for the Pakistani Taliban.
Pakistan has seen an increase in militant attacks against police and security forces in recent years. Authorities blame the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and affiliated groups for much of the violence. The TTP is a separate group from the Afghan Taliban, although the two are allies. The Afghan Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.
Tarar said the security forces first launched an intelligence-based operation against the terrorist group near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Bajaur, a northwestern district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. “Due to precise and skilful engagement, the high-ranking Khwarji Commander Khan Farosh” was killed along with three others.
He said, through intelligence operations, targeting terrorist camps and hideouts of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Kwarij were also done in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. Three targets in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces were destroyed during the strikes, killing 25 terrorists, he said.
Tarar said that a lot of weapons and ammunition that were kept in the place where the marakiz was intended to be hidden were also destroyed.
“Pakistan has been striving to maintain peace and stability in the region, but at the same time it will not compromise the safety and security of our citizens, which is our priority,” he said.
Pakistan since last year has done many strikes along the border and inside Afghanistan, targeting places where the TTP and other militants are suspected to be hiding. Pakistan blames Afghanistan The Taliban government of harboring militants who carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the TTP. Kabul denies the charge.
