Dozens of people were killed and injured in Afghanistan after Pakistan carried out cross-border strikes on militant targets, blaming a string of recent suicide attacks on fighters it claimed were operating from Afghan soil, the Taliban-led government said on Sunday.
"Last night, they bombed our civilian compatriots in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, martyring and wounding dozens of people, including women and children," Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on X.
ALSO READ | Two soldiers, five militants killed in suicide attack in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Pakistan launches cross-border strikes inside Afghanistan
Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X that the military carried out what he called “intelligence-based, selective operations” against seven camps linked to the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, along with its affiliates. He added that a group tied to the Islamic State was also targeted in the border area.
"Pakistan has carried out intelligence-based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Pakistani Taliban and its affiliates in the border region," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"Pakistan has carried out intelligence-based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Pakistani Taliban and its affiliates in the border region," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Tarar said Pakistan had “conclusive evidence” that recent attacks, including a suicide blast at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad earlier this month that killed 31 worshippers, were carried out by militants acting on the “behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.”
He claimed Pakistan had many times asked Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to take clear action to stop militant groups from using Afghan land to launch attacks in Pakistan, but said no real steps had been taken.
The strikes mark a serious rise in tensions between Pakistan and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, coming days after Kabul freed three Pakistani soldiers in a Saudi-mediated step meant to calm the situation after months of clashes along the rough border.
Afghanistan vows to respond
In a statement posted on X, Afghanistan's ministry of defence vowed to respond “at a suitable time” and said that attacks against “civilian populations and religious institutions stand as undeniable evidence of the intelligence and security failures of the Pakistani military”.
“…The ministry of national defence affirms that safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty and the security of its people are both its religious obligations and national duties, and warns that an appropriate and measured response will be taken at a suitable time, Inshallah,” the statement read.
Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions
The two nations have been caught in a growing dispute since the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan in 2021. Ties between them have worsened sharply after deadly border clashes since October.
Pakistan said Sunday that despite repeated requests from Islamabad, Taliban authorities had not acted against militant groups using Afghan soil to stage attacks in Pakistan.
It said the strikes were in response to a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad two weeks ago and other recent suicide attacks in northwest Pakistan, including one on Saturday.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the mosque bombing, which killed at least 40 people and injured more than 160 in the deadliest attack on Islamabad since 2008.
The October border violence ended in a ceasefire arranged by Qatar and Turkey, but several later rounds of talks in Doha and Istanbul have not led to a lasting agreement.
With inputs from agencies