Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban to hold talks in Qatar after deadly border violence — report

Pakistan officials will hold talks in Qatar Saturday with their Afghan counterparts, a day after Islamabad launched air strikes on its neighbour killing at least 10 people.

"Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and intelligence chief General Asim Malik will be heading to Doha today for talks with Afghan Taliban," Pakistan state TV said.

An Afghan Taliban government official also confirmed the talks would take place.

"A high-level delegation from the Islamic Emirate, led by Defense Minister Mohammed Yaqub, left for Doha today," Afghan Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on X.

A 48-hour truce paused nearly a week of bloody border clashes that killed dozens of troops and civilians on both sides.

But late on Friday, Afghanistan accused Pakistan of breaking the ceasefire, with deadly effect.

"Pakistan has broken the ceasefire and bombed three locations in Paktika” province, a senior Taliban official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Afghanistan will retaliate."

‘Precision strike’

Ten people were killed and 12 others wounded in the strikes, a provincial hospital official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that two children were among the dead.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board told AFP that three players who were in the region for a domestic tournament were killed, revising down an earlier toll of eight.

It also said it was withdrawing from the upcoming Tri-Nation T20I Series involving Pakistan, scheduled for next month.

In Pakistan, a senior security official told AFP that forces had "conducted precision aerial strikes" in Afghan border areas targeting the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, a local faction linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group — the Pakistani Taliban.

Islamabad said that the same group had been involved in a suicide bombing and gun attack at a military camp in the North Waziristan district that borders Afghanistan, which left seven Pakistani troops dead.