Taliban vows retaliation claiming Pakistan strikes killed…

Pakistan’s military has claimed to have killed at least 70 militants in air strikes against neighbouring Afghanistan, but the Taliban in Afghanistan said this was false.

The Afghan Red Crescent Society said 18 people were killed and several others wounded. (AFP) Pakistan's military has claimed to have killed at least 70 militants in air strikes against neighbouring Afghanistan. Afghanistan's ruling Taliban said the claims of militant deaths were false and that women and children were killed in the strikes. The Taliban's defence ministry said it will "deliver an appropriate and calculated response" to the Pakistani strikes.

Afghans gathered around a mass grave on Sunday to bury villagers who died in overnight air strikes by Pakistan, which said its military operation killed dozens of militants. The attacks left at least 18 people dead, including children, Afghanistan said, and were the most extensive since border clashes in October that killed more than 70 on both sides and wounded hundreds. Pakistan and Afghanistan's fraught relationship has hit a new low after a series of skirmishes and bombings as Islamabad accuses Kabul of harbouring a militant Taliban group it blames for attacks on its soil.

Islamabad said it hit seven sites along the border region, targeting Afghanistan-based militant groups in response to suicide bombings in Pakistan. Pakistani Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry offered no evidence for his claim in an interview with Geo News that at least 70 militants were killed in the strikes. The Afghan Defence Ministry said in a statement that "various civilian areas" in the provinces of Nangarhar and Paktika in eastern Afghanistan were hit, including a religious school and multiple homes.

One man told the AFP his house was destroyed with most of his family inside. (AP: Wahidullah Kakar) The statement called the strikes a violation of Afghanistan's airspace and sovereignty. Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on X the attacks "killed and wounded dozens, including women and children". The Afghan Red Crescent Society's provincial director, Mawlawi Fazl Rahman Fayyaz, said 18 people were killed and several others wounded.

On Sunday, local time, villagers cleared rubble in Nangarhar following air strikes, while mourners prepared for the funerals of those killed. Habib Ullah, a local tribal elder, said those killed in the strikes were not militants. "They were poor people who suffered greatly. Those killed were neither Taliban, nor military personnel, nor members of the former government. They lived simple village lives," he said.

Afghanistan's defence ministry said it will "deliver an appropriate and calculated response" to the Pakistani strikes. (AP: Wahidullah Kakar) Nezakat, a 35-year-old farmer in Bihsud district, who only gave one name, said his house was "completely destroyed". Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Pakistan's ambassador to Kabul to protest the Pakistani strikes. Islamabad said its military targeted the Pakistani Taliban and its associates, as well as an affiliate of the Islamic State group, an information ministry statement said.

Pakistan launched the strikes after a suicide blast at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad two weeks ago.   (Reuters) Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said, "people's homes have been destroyed, they have targeted civilians, they have committed this criminal act" with the bombardment of eastern Nangarhar and Paktika provinces. Nangarhar police told AFP the bombardment started at about midnight and hit three districts, with those killed all in a civilian's house.

"Twenty-three members of his family were buried under the rubble, of whom 18 were killed and five wounded," said a police spokesperson. Afghan authorities reported children were among dozens of people killed and wounded. (AP: Hedayat Shah) Afghanistan's defence ministry said it would "deliver an appropriate and calculated response" to the Pakistani strikes. Militant violence has surged in Pakistan in recent years, much of it blamed on the Pakistani Taliban and outlawed Baloch separatist groups.

The Pakistani Taliban is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistan's Taliban. After fleeing Afghanistan, many refugees in Pakistan are at risk of being deported back amid a crackdown on temporary cardholders as they wait for humanitarian visas from Australia. The two countries have been locked in an increasingly bitter dispute since the Taliban authorities retook control of Afghanistan in 2021 as foreign forces withdrew.

Pakistani military action killed 70 Afghan civilians between October and December, according to the UN mission in Afghanistan. Several rounds of negotiations followed an initial ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Türkiye, but the efforts have failed to produce a lasting agreement. Saudi Arabia intervened this month, mediating the release of three Pakistani soldiers captured by Afghanistan in October.

The deteriorating relationship has impacted people in both countries, with land border crossings — crucial gateways for trade — largely shut for months. Militant violence has surged in Pakistan in recent years. (AFP: Aamir Qureshi, file) Security analyst Abdullah Khan said the Pakistani strikes suggest that interventions by foreign governments had failed to resolve the tensions. Islamabad said on Sunday that despite repeated requests, Taliban authorities had failed to act against militant groups using Afghan territory to carry out attacks in Pakistan, which Kabul denies.

Pakistan launched the strikes after a suicide blast at a Shiite mosque in Islamabad two weeks ago and other attacks more recently in north-western Pakistan. The Islamic State group had claimed responsibility for the mosque bombing, which killed at least 40 people and wounded more than 160 in the deadliest attack in Islamabad since 2008. The militant group's regional chapter, Islamic State-Khorasan, also claimed a deadly suicide bombing at a restaurant in Kabul last month.

Summary

This report covers the latest developments in pakistan. The information presented highlights key changes and updates that are relevant to those following this topic.

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