Pakistani fighter jets carried out airstrikes on Monday in eastern Afghanistan, targeting suspected militant hideouts near the countries' shared border. The airstrikes resulted in the deaths of 28 militants, according to Pakistani officials. The strikes mark a renewed escalation in tensions between the two nations, raising concerns about further cross-border hostilities and complicating regional mediation efforts.
The airstrikes occurred after Pakistan warned that it could target militants inside Afghanistan following two deadly attacks on Pakistani security forces near the border in recent days. Militant attacks targeting Pakistan's police and security forces have surged in recent years, with hundreds of people killed in cross-border fighting since February. Authorities in Islamabad have blamed the Pakistani Taliban and allied militant groups for most of the violence.
The Pakistani Taliban are separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban that returned to power in 2021. Pakistan's information ministry said security forces conducted a planned, intelligence-driven ground operation in the northwest after a series of militant attacks in Pakistan. The operation was followed by "calibrated airstrikes against the hideouts and safe havens of terrorist organisations responsible for these attacks".
Afghanistan's government, however, reported a different casualty toll, stating that the strikes killed three civilians and wounded four others. The claims from either side could not immediately be independently verified. Afghan Taliban government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid condemned the airstrikes, calling it "a repetition of such crimes" and stating that Pakistani military circles committed the act to divert attention from their country's security failures.
The airstrikes came a day after six Pakistani security personnel, including two army officers, were killed in a shootout with militants in Hangu, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border. On Friday, a suicide bomber struck a mosque inside a police compound in the Pakistani city of Kohat, killing at least 21 people, most of them police officers, and wounding over 100.
Pakistan's information ministry warned on Saturday that the country could strike militants inside Afghanistan in response to attacks on Pakistan. It blamed the Kohat attack on militants allegedly based in Afghanistan and accused the Afghan Taliban government of sheltering and supporting groups that carry out attacks in Pakistan. The ministry called on Kabul to take "credible, verifiable and sustained measures" to dismantle militant sanctuaries and recruitment networks in Afghanistan.
No group had claimed responsibility for the attacks in Kohat or Hangu by the time of Monday's strikes, but suspicion fell on the Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban government in Kabul of sheltering TTP leaders and allowing militants to launch cross-border attacks, which Afghanistan's government denies.
Key points
- Pakistan conducts airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, killing 28 militants.
- Kabul reports three deaths and four wounded in the airstrikes.
- The airstrikes escalate tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, complicating regional mediation efforts.
