Pakistan says 28 militants killed in Afghanistan — TimesLIVE
Pakistani fighter jets carried out airstrikes on targets in eastern Afghanistan near the shared border. Pakistani authorities said 28 militants were killed, while Afghan officials reported at least three civilian deaths and four injuries. These claims could not be independently verified, TimesLIVE reports.
Statements by the sides on the consequences of the strikes
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information said that, following a series of attacks inside the country, security forces conducted a planned ground operation in the northwest. This was followed, the ministry said, by “calibrated airstrikes” on hideouts and locations of groups responsible for the attacks. In a post on X, the ministry said that 28 militants had been killed along the Afghan border.
Hamidullah Fitrat, deputy spokesperson for the Afghan government, said the strikes took place at around 3 a.m. in the Nurgal district of Kunar province and the Barmal district of Paktika province. According to him, a shop and an unoccupied house were destroyed in the Raha and Tor-Kundi areas of Barmal, but no one was harmed there.
Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strikes and said there would be a response. He called Pakistan’s actions “aggression and oppression” and claimed that the Pakistani military was trying to divert attention from security problems in its own country.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Background to the escalation
The airstrikes came after Islamabad warned that it could attack militants on Afghan territory. The day before, six security personnel, including two army officers, were killed in a shootout with militants in the Hangu district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
On Friday, a suicide bomber attacked a mosque in a police complex in the city of Kohat. Eight armed men also stormed the offices, triggering a 20-hour shootout. According to Pakistani officials, at least 21 people, mostly police officers, were killed and more than 100 others were injured.
Pakistan blames most attacks on the Pakistani Taliban movement, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and affiliated groups. Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan government of sheltering the movement’s leaders and facilitating cross-border attacks. Afghan authorities deny these accusations. No one had claimed responsibility for the attacks in Kohat and Hangu at the time of the strikes.
