Pakistani air strikes in Afghanistan’s eastern border province killed 46 people, a Taliban government spokesman told AFP on Wednesday.
“Last night (Tuesday) Pakistan bombed four places in Barmal district of Paktika province. The total number of dead is 46, most of whom were children and women,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
He said six more people were injured, mostly children.
A Defense Ministry statement late Tuesday condemned Pakistan’s latest attacks on Afghan territory, calling them “barbaric” and “blatant aggression.”
“The Islamic Emirate will not leave this cowardly act unanswered, but considers the defense of its territory and sovereignty as its inalienable right,” the statement said, using the names of Taliban officials for the government.
Taliban officials said eight civilians were killed in deadly Pakistani military air strikes in areas bordering Afghanistan in March, sparking border clashes.
Malel, a resident of Barmal, told AFP that 18 members of a family were killed in Tuesday’s attacks.
“The bombing targeted two or three houses, 18 people were killed in one house, entire families lost their lives,” he said.
He said three people in another house were killed in the attack and several others were injured and taken to hospital.
Border tensions between the two countries have escalated since the Taliban government took power in 2021, with Pakistan grappling with a resurgence of terrorist violence in its western border areas.
Islamabad has accused Taliban officials in Kabul of harboring terrorist fighters, allowing them to carry out attacks on Pakistani soil with impunity.
Kabul has denied the allegations.
The attack comes after the Pakistani Taliban – known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and share a similar ideology with their Afghan counterparts – attacked an army post near the border with Afghanistan last week. The raid claimed, what Pakistani intelligence officials said, killed 16 soldiers.
There has been no official comment from Pakistani officials on the latest attack in Afghan territory.
Earlier on Tuesday, high-level Taliban officials were meeting with Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan who was on a visit to Kabul.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
