Pakistani fighter jets carried out air strikes on suspected “terrorist” hideouts in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, with Pakistani security officials saying “28 terrorists” were killed, while Afghan authorities reported three civilian deaths and four injuries.
The strikes in Kunar and Paktika provinces threaten to further strain relations between the neighbouring countries after months of cross-border violence and could complicate diplomatic efforts by regional countries to ease tensions.
The casualty claims could not immediately be independently verified. Pakistan's military did not immediately issue a statement on the strikes.
Kabul condemns strikes
Afghan Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the attacks in a post on X and said Afghanistan would respond.
Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the strikes began around 3 a.m. in Nurgal district of Kunar province and Barmal district of Paktika.
In Nurgal, Fitrat said a house in Pathan village belonging to a resident identified as Noor Ahmad was destroyed, killing Ahmad and two members of his family and wounding four others.
Afghan officials separately said an air strike hit an area housing people displaced by an earthquake.
Fitrat said strikes in Rakhah and Tor Kundi in Barmal destroyed a shop and an unoccupied house but caused no further casualties.
Two Pakistani security officials, speaking anonymously because they were not authorised to comment publicly, said 28 suspected “terrorists” were killed in the operation.
Strikes follow deadly attacks in Pakistan
The air strikes came a day after six Pakistani security personnel, including two army officers, were killed in a shootout with militants in Hangu, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the Afghan border.
They also followed Friday's deadly attack on a police facility in Kohat, where a suicide bomber targeted a mosque before armed attackers stormed the compound. The ensuing gun battle lasted about 20 hours and left at least 21 people dead and more than 100 wounded, according to Pakistani officials.
Pakistan's information ministry warned on Saturday that Islamabad could strike militant targets inside Afghanistan in response to attacks on its territory. It accused the Afghan Taliban government of “allowing militant groups” to operate from Afghan soil and called on Kabul to take what it described as credible and sustained action against militant sanctuaries.
No group had claimed responsibility for the Hangu or Kohat attacks by the time of Monday's air strikes.
Dispute centres on Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan
Pakistan has increasingly blamed the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is banned as a terrorist organisation in Pakistan, for attacks on its police and security forces.
The TTP is separate from Afghanistan's Taliban but is allied with it. Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban government of sheltering TTP leaders and allowing militants to launch attacks from Afghan territory, allegations Kabul rejects.
Relations between the two sides have remained tense since February, when Pakistan and Afghanistan engaged in their worst fighting in years.
