Pakistan said it carried out airstrikes early Thursday on 10 sites in Afghanistan that it said were used to launch drone attacks against Pakistan a day earlier, a sharp escalation in their recent fighting that threatens international mediation efforts.
In Afghanistan’s southeastern Khost province, Mustaghfir Gurbaz, a spokesman for the province’s governor, said Pakistani airstrikes had targeted several sites, including near the provincial center, at around 3:30 a.m., but that they had not caused any casualties.
The announcement of the strikes by Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar in a post on X came after officials said Afghanistan’s Taliban forces had fired eight drones and shelled Pakistani border posts after Pakistani troops foiled what they described as a cross-border infiltration attempt by militants.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan confirmed the civilian casualties and Kabul formally protested the attack. Earlier reporting noted: Pakistani officials said Wednesday that security forces had neutralized eight rudimentary drones allegedly launched by the Afghan Taliban before they could enter the northwestern city of Kohat and the border town of Torkham. The Afghan government had no immediate comment. Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of allowing militants to operate from its territory and carry out attacks across the border, an accusation Kabul denies. On the sidelines of the U.N.
In Monday’s airstrikes, Pakistan’s Information Ministry said 28 militants were killed, while Afghan authorities said at least three civilians died and four others were wounded. Earlier reporting noted: Pakistan said early Thursday that it had carried out airstrikes on 10 sites in Afghanistan that it said were used to launch drone attacks against Pakistan a day earlier, marking a sharp escalation between the neighbors that threatens mediation efforts by regional powers.
The conflicting statements came two days after Pakistani fighter jets struck sites in eastern Afghanistan that Islamabad said were militant hideouts. “Instead of dismantling these networks and taking credible and verifiable action against those using Afghan territory to perpetrate terrorism against Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban regime has chosen to escalate the situation through hostile drone operations against Pakistan,” Tarar said. General Assembly in New York, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed concern about what he said was the presence of more than two dozen anti-Pakistani militant groups in Afghanistan. Earlier reporting noted: The announcement by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar in a post on X came after officials said Afghanistan’s Taliban forces had fired eight drones and shelled Pakistani border posts after Pakistani troops foiled what they described as a cross-border infiltration attempt by militants.
However, Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Wednesday denied that Afghan forces had carried out any drone attacks on Pakistan.
