Dozens killed in Pakistani attacks on eastern Afghanistan

Pakistan's security forces announced they killed at least 29 militants in ground and air operations along the Afghanistan border. However, the Afghan Taliban government countered that at least 38 civilians were killed and 163 injured in Pakistani airstrikes.

The aerial assault on Sunday was Pakistan's second targeting militant sites in Afghanistan. It threatens to escalate an intermittent conflict between the two former allies, who experienced their worst battle in years in February.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated on X that Pakistan's airstrikes hit three targets in the Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar, destroying "large quantities" of weapons and ammunition while killing 25 militants. He added that four more fighters linked to the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction of Pakistan's Taliban were killed in ground attacks in the Bajaur district.

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Security forces precisely struck terrorist camps and safe havens.

Conversely, Afghanistan's government spokesperson, Hamdullah Fitrat, reported that the strikes killed 38 civilians and injured 163, including women and children. He specified that the majority of casualties resulted from Pakistani jets bombing a home in Paktia province, killing 28 and injuring 158. Residents were assisting the wounded when a second strike hit the same location, according to Khalid Ahmad Sajad, deputy head of the Samkani district.

Minister Tarar asserted that Pakistan was responding to "recent multiple terrorist incidents," including a bomb and gun attack on a Sindh Rangers facility in Karachi that killed three troops. "Security forces precisely struck terrorist camps and safe havens," he said. Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering militants blamed for attacks in Pakistan, a charge the Afghan Taliban denies.

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While they were carrying out rescue efforts, Pakistani military forces launched a second airstrike on the same location.