KABUL, June 29 (Reuters) – Pakistan security forces killed at least 29 militants in ground and air operations along the border with Afghanistan, the country said on Monday, while the Afghan Taliban said at least 38 civilians were killed in air strikes.
Sunday’s airstrike was Pakistan’s second against targets in Afghanistan that the Pakistanis said belonged to militants, and it threatened to worsen an on-and-off conflict between the former allies, who fought their worst battle in years in February.
Pakistan’s airstrikes against three targets in the Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika and Kunar killed 25 militants and destroyed “large quantities” of weapons and ammunition, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in X on Monday.
Four more fighters linked to the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Pakistani Taliban were killed in ground attacks in the Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on the country’s northern border.
The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, confirmed on Sunday the death of one of its commanders, Khan Ferosh — also known as Zabul —, in the operation in Bajaur.
Afghan government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the strikes killed 38 civilians and injured 163, including women and children.
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Most of the casualties resulted from the bombing of a residence in Paktia province by Pakistani jets, which killed 28 people and injured 158, he added.
Residents were rushing to help the injured when a second attack occurred, said Khalid Ahmad Sajad, deputy head of Samkani district, which was hit by the airstrikes.
‘Everyone was asleep when the aircraft arrived and started attacking this house. Inside the house there were children, women, men and elderly people,’ said resident Mata Khan.
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Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Information, Mohajer Farahi, said in a statement that the ‘attack will certainly be avenged at the appropriate time’.
Pakistani minister Tarar said Pakistan was responding to “multiple recent terrorist incidents”, including Saturday’s bomb and gun attack by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar on a Sindh Rangers facility in the southern city of Karachi, which killed three and injured four of its soldiers.
“Security forces targeted terrorist camps and safe houses with precision,” he said in an X message.
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Islamabad accuses Kabul of harboring militants who are responsible for planning attacks in Pakistan. The Afghan Taliban deny the allegations, saying extremism is an internal problem in Pakistan.
(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul, Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru and Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai)
