The Pakistani Air Force carried out midnight airstrikes inside Afghanistan, a day after suicide attacks in Peshawar killed 3 Special Forces personnel and injured at least 11 people. The Taliban spokesperson on Tuesday confirmed that Pakistan carried out strikes in eastern Afghanistan that killed at least 10 civilians, including nine children.
Pakistani intelligence sources said that the strikes targeted the hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban group in the border province of Khost and other parts.
They said, “Several militants belonging to TTP were neutralised in the airstrikes, and we will continue to launch preventive operations across Afghanistan.”
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid posted on X that Pakistani forces "bombed the house of a local civilian" in Khost province late Monday, killing a woman and nine children. He also confirmed that strikes hit Kunar and Paktika provinces, wounding four civilians.
The strikes came a day after suicide attackers targeted a security compound in Pakistan’s Peshawar city. However, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the reports on Tuesday claimed that the attackers came from Afghanistan’s Chaman border.
Pakistan President Asif Zardari accused the "foreign-backed Fitna al-Khawarij", Islamabad's label for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which it accuses of operating from Afghan territory.
The latest attacks on Afghanistan have come at a time when negotiations between the two sides ended in stalemate in Qatar and in Istanbul.
Relations between the two countries have further deteriorated since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. In October, border clashes between the Taliban and Pakistan's armed forces killed dozens on each side.
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