Four civilians were killed in Pakistani airstrikes on parts of Afghanistan’s Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces, Zabihullah Mujahid said Thursday, as tensions between the two neighboring countries continue to escalate.
Mujahid condemned the strikes as “blatant aggression” and warned that the attacks would not go unanswered. He said the Pakistani military had targeted areas in the three provinces and accused Islamabad of carrying out the strikes to divert attention from its internal security problems.
Pakistan confirmed carrying out air and drone strikes against 10 locations in Afghanistan, saying the sites were used to launch and store drones. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation followed the detection and interception of drones that Pakistan said had entered its airspace from Afghanistan territory the previous day.
Tarar said Pakistan had exercised its right to self-defense and described the strikes as “deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate.” He said the targets were limited to military locations directly linked to the alleged drone attacks. Pakistan’s claims about the origin and intended targets of the drones could not immediately be independently verified.
The reported strikes came a day after Pakistani security sources said the country’s air defenses had shot down eight drones that entered Pakistani airspace from Afghanistan. Four were reportedly intercepted near the Torkham border, while four others were downed near Kohat.
Local reporting said the overnight Pakistani strikes hit areas in Khost, Kandahar and Paktia. In Khost, the provincial governor’s spokesman said several areas were struck but reported no casualties. In Paktia. AFP also reported that a resident in Kandahar heard an aircraft followed by a large explosion and fire.
Mujahid again warned that Pakistan’s attacks would have consequences, while Taliban authorities have denied Islamabad’s accusations that they allow militants to use Afghanistan territory to launch attacks against Pakistan. Islamabad, meanwhile, has repeatedly accused Kabul of harboring armed groups, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP.
The latest confrontation follows several days of heightened cross-border violence. Earlier this week, Pakistan said its forces had killed 28 militants in airstrikes along the Afghanistan border, while Kabul and the United Nations said three civilians were killed in those strikes.
The renewed violence has also complicated mediation efforts involving China, Türkiye, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which have sought to reduce tensions between the two countries. The latest escalation comes after nearly three months of relative calm and threatens to further worsen already strained relations between Kabul and Islamabad.
