Pakistan stated that the attacks carried out in the early hours of this Friday, the 27th, against cities in Afghanistan, left at least 274 dead and more than 400 injured.
The information was released by Pakistan Army spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry. According to him, the victims were members of the Afghan security forces or associated militants.
Chaudhry also said that 12 Pakistani soldiers were killed, 27 were injured and one remained missing.
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The numbers, however, were disputed by the Afghan side. The spokesman for the Taliban government in Afghanistan, Zabiullah Mujahid, classified the data released by the Pakistani official as “false”. According to him, 13 Afghan soldiers died and 22 were injured, in addition to 13 civilians who also suffered injuries.
Mujahid further stated that 55 Pakistani soldiers were killed and that the bodies of 23 of them were taken to Afghanistan. According to the spokesman, “many” Pakistani soldiers were also captured.
Tension between the two countries had been intensifying for months, but reached a new level on the night of Thursday, the 26th, when Afghanistan launched a border attack against Pakistan, under the justification of retaliating for a Pakistani offensive carried out in the early hours of last Sunday, the 22nd, which would have left at least 70 people dead.
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“We attacked important military targets in Pakistan, sending a message that our hands can reach their throats and that we will respond to Pakistan’s every evil act,” Mujahid said. “Pakistan has never sought to resolve problems through dialogue.”
After the Afghan attacks, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said in a post on X that “patience has run out.” “Now it’s open war between us.”
In the early hours of this Friday, the 27th, the Pakistani response came in the form of a new offensive against Kabul and two other provincial areas, including Kandahar, considered the birthplace of the Taliban and where the group’s supreme leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, resides. According to the Pakistani government, the targets were military installations.
According to Mujahid, a religious school in Paktika province was bombed on Friday morning. The spokesperson stated that, so far, there was no information about possible victims at the scene.
