Pakistan conducts strikes in Afghan provinces, Taliban says civilians killed

Pakistan carried out fresh airstrikes across several provinces in Afghanistan, including Kabul and Kandahar, killing civilians, the Taliban claimed. Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the attacks as sovereignty violations, further escalating tensions along the volatile Afghanistan-Pakistan border

Kabul: Pakistan has carried out fresh military strikes across multiple Afghan provinces, including Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, and Paktika, resulting in civilian casualties, including women and children, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Friday.

The attacks have heightened tensions along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, with the Taliban condemning the strikes as violations of Afghan sovereignty. “Continuing the pattern of previous aggressions and crimes, the Pakistani military regime has once again bombed Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia, Paktika, and some other areas.

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In some places, it targeted civilians’ homes, leading to the death of women and children, and in other places, it targeted empty deserts and uninhabited areas,” Mujahid posted on X.

Condemning the attacks by Pakistani forces, he further said, “This unjust assault in the last ten days of the blessed month of Ramadan and on the threshold of Eid al-Fitr clearly indicates that they adhere to no human principles or moral values whatsoever. The Islamic Emirate condemns this crime and this flagrant assault in the strongest terms, and God willing, this injustice will not go unanswered.” Mujahid accused the Pakistani military aircraft of setting ablaze the fuel storage of Kam Air, a private airline company, near Kandahar International Airport in Afghanistan.

“This company supplies fuel to civilian airlines and United Nations aircraft. This comes at a time when they had previously also burnt fuel depots belonging to private traders named Haji Khan Zada,” the Taliban spokesperson posted on X.

Last week, Afghan authorities said that Taliban forces killed 30 Pakistani soldiers during clashes that erupted along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, local media reported, citing a defence ministry spokesperson.

Taliban defence ministry spokesperson Enayatullah Khwarazmi said the fighting took place in Shorabak district of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, where Taliban fighters allegedly captured a Pakistani military outpost, Pakistan’s leading news agency Khaama Press reported.

He said Taliban forces destroyed the outpost with explosives after they captured the post during the clashes.

Khwarazmi claimed that 30 Pakistani soldiers were killed during the fighting, including 20 who were deployed to reinforce the outpost. He stated that Taliban fighters captured five Pakistani military posts in the Dand Patan area of Paktia and entered posts Top Sar Khwuch Karam and Anzerki Sar.

The current round of hostilities began when Taliban-led Afghan forces launched retaliatory operations against Pakistani military installations on February 27, following Pakistan’s actions targeting militants inside Afghan territory on February 21.

Following Afghanistan’s attacks, Pakistan launched ‘Operation Ghazab lil-Haq’ (Righteous Fury) in response to what it described as “unprovoked firing” by the Afghan forces across multiple border sectors.