KABUL, June 29: Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government said cross-border military strikes carried out by Pakistan in the eastern provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar resulted in significant civilian casualties and widespread destruction.
Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said in a social media post Monday that, according to preliminary reports, the attacks killed 36 civilians, including women and children, and injured 163 others. He added that three residential homes were completely destroyed.
“According to the reports available thus far, the attacks carried out last night resulted in the martyrdom of 36 civilians, including women and children, while 163 others sustained injuries. Three residential houses were completely destroyed,” Fitrat said.
Providing details of the reported strikes, Fitrat said Pakistani fighter jets bombed a civilian residence in Mandokhail village in the Chamkani district of Paktia province.
“As a result, one elderly man and one child from the household were martyred, while other members of the family sustained injuries,” he said.
Fitrat further alleged that the same location was struck a second time after local residents gathered to conduct rescue operations.
“Subsequently, when local residents gathered to conduct rescue operations, the area was bombed for a second time, resulting in the martyrdom of 28 villagers and injuries to 158 others,” he said.
According to the Taliban government, another strike targeted a residence in Walust village in the Giyan district of Paktika province, where six people—most of them women and children—were killed.
A third strike reportedly hit a civilian home in Barolo village in Kunar province’s Manogai district. While no casualties were reported there, the residence was completely destroyed, causing significant property damage, according to Fitrat.
Before Afghanistan released the casualty figures, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported on the cross-border operation as Islamabad defended the military action.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Sunday that the country’s security forces carried out a “well-planned intelligence-based ground operation” supported by aerial strikes in the frontier region.
Tarar said the operation was launched in response to several recent terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, including assaults on security camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, as well as a paramilitary facility in Karachi.
Regional tensions intensified following a Saturday night attack on the headquarters of the Pakistan Sindh Rangers in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar neighborhood.
According to Dawn, the Sindh police chief said three Pakistani paramilitary personnel and three attackers were killed after militants rammed the facility’s main gate with a vehicle, triggering heavy gunfire and explosions.
Al Jazeera reported that an affiliate of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a splinter faction of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack on the Karachi facility.
The latest cross-border operation is expected to further deepen tensions between Islamabad and Kabul.
The strikes came less than three weeks after Pakistan launched attacks on what it described as militant hideouts inside Afghanistan, ending a month-long period of relative calm following what Islamabad had previously characterized as an “open war” between the neighboring countries.
The latest escalation follows months of cross-border clashes. Since February, border skirmishes have claimed hundreds of lives, with repeated military exchanges undermining multiple internationally mediated peace efforts.
Although China hosted diplomatic talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan in April and announced that both sides had agreed to reduce military hostilities and pursue a peaceful resolution, the latest strikes have raised fresh concerns about the future of those understandings. (ANI)
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