Taliban security personnel screen people and vehicles at a checkpoint, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Wednesday following Pakistani airstrikes that targeted alleged Taliban hideouts in the remote Paktika Province Tuesday night. Photo by Qudratullah Razwan/EPA-EFE
The Pakistani military conducted air raids potentially killed dozens while targeting alleged Pakistani Taliban militants in the rural Paktika Province of Afghanistan Tuesday night.
The airstrikes destroyed several homes killed at least five, but the death toll is expected to rise, Amu TV reported. Advertisement
The airstrikes are part of an ongoing cross-border dispute between Pakistan and the Taliban and killed at least 46, including women and children, a Taliban spokesperson told Al Jazeera.
The air raids occurred in the Barmal District of the Paktika Province as the Pakistani military targeted suspected hideouts of the Pakistan Taliban, which commonly is referred to as “TTP,” Al Jazeera reported.
The Paktika Province is located about 140 miles south of Kabul in a rural area of eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan.
The Barmal District is located near Pakistan’s Waziristan tribal area in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of National Defense acknowledged the Pakistani military bombed the Barmal District of the Paktika Province Tuesday night.
“The bombing targeted civilians, mostly Waziristan refugees,” Afghanistan’s National Defense Ministry spokesperson Enayatullah Khowarazami said in a translated post on X. Advertisement
“The Pakistani side should understand that such arbitrary measures are not a solution to any problem,” he said. “The Islamic Emirate will not leave this cowardly act unanswered and considers the defense of its territory an inalienable right.”
The Taliban refers to its government in Afghanistan as the “Islamic Emirate.”
The air raids are the second this year and happened only hours after representatives of Pakistan and Afghanistan met and agreed to work together to promote peace in the region.
Officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan have accused each other of harboring militants who threaten security on communities near the border between the two nations. Violence frequently occurs in the remote border region.
The Taliban gained control of Afghanistan after the United States military completed its withdrawal from that nation on Aug. 30, 2021.
