Pakistani forces have carried out airstrikes in several areas of eastern and southeastern Afghanistan on Sunday, reportedly killing dozens. Kabul has vowed an “appropriate and measured response” raising fears of a major escalation between the two Muslim nations.
The Afghan news channel TOLO News wrote on X following the attacks: “Sources told TOLOnews that following the airstrikes in Khogyani district, Nangarhar province, Pakistani forces also carried out strikes in the province’s Ghani Khel district, Nangarhar province and Behsud district, Nangarhar province.
“Sources add that in Behsud district, the home of a civilian identified as Shahabuddin was targeted. Pakistani forces also conducted airstrikes tonight in Barmal district, Paktika province and Urgun district, Paktika province.”
In the channel’s Pashtu version it also said that a religious sermon was struck at the Barmal district in Paktika.
The strikes came in the aftermath of recent suicide bombing incidents in Pakistan it said.
Pakistan vowed to avenge the killing of two security personnel on Saturday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, warning that it would not allow any attack launched from Afghanistan to go unanswered.
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The Defence Ministry of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan said Sunday it would meet the reported Pakistani strikes on its soil with an “appropriate and measured response” at a “suitable time.”
The ministry condemned the attacks “in the strongest possible terms” on US social media company X, describing them as a clear violation of national sovereignty, international law, principles of good neighbourliness and Islamic values.
According to the BBC, the Islamic Emirate’s defence ministry said the strikes targeted civilian areas of Nangarhar and Paktika provinces.
Officials in Nangarhar told the BBC that the home of a man called Shahabuddin had been hit by one of the strikes, killing about 20 family members, including women and children.
Growing tensions
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said it had carried out “intelligence based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts.”
In a statement on X, it said the targets included members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, which the government refers to as “Fitna al Khawarij,” along with their affiliates and the Islamic State-Khorasan Province.
The ministry described the strikes as “a retributive response” to recent suicide bombings in Pakistan by terror groups it said were sheltered by Kabul.
The recent attacks in Pakistan included one on a Shia mosque in the capital Islamabad earlier this month, as well as others that took place since the holy month of Ramadan began this week in the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Pakistan accused Kabul of failing to take action against the armed group, adding that it had “conclusive evidence” that the attacks were carried out by militants on the instructions of their leadership in Afghanistan.
The IEA’s defence ministry later posted on X condemning the attacks as a “blatant violation of Afghanistan’s territorial integrity”, adding that they were a “clear breach of international law.”
The latest strikes by Pakistan come days after Saudi Arabia mediated the release of three Pakistani soldiers earlier this week, who were captured in Kabul during border clashes last October.
In October, heavy gun battles raged on the border between the two countries following similar attacks by Pakistan on positions inside Afghanistan.
Dozens were reportedly killed in the fighting with rival sides providing their own casualty counts.
Those clashes ended with a tentative ceasefire that same month after the worst fighting since Islamic Emirate forces ousted the US occupation in 2021.
Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 1,600-mile (2,574 km) mountainous border.
This latest attack on Afghanistan by Pakistan raises the possibility of similar border clashes as the IEA leadership looks to retaliate to what it sees as flagrant violations of its sovereignty.
The IAE has long denied Islamabads accusations of providing support or a sanctuary for the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan group.
