Dozens Killed As Pakistan Carries Out Cross-Border Strikes In Afghanistan

Islamabad/Kabul, Feb 22: Dozens of Afghan civilians were killed and injured as the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) conducted airstrikes, targeting residential areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. Islamabad targeted Afghan-based terrorist groups – which it blames for the recent suicide attacks.

According to the Afghan government, “dozens of people” were killed and wounded in the attack.

“Last night, they bombed our civilian compatriots in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, martyring and wounding dozens of people, including women and children,” Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a post on X.

Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, in a post on X, confirmed the attack, citing three attacks since the start of Ramadan last week. “Pakistan has carried out intelligence-based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Pakistani Taliban and its affiliates in the border region,” he said.

Tarar added that Pakistan also targeted an affiliate of the Islamic State group – which had claimed responsibility for the recent attack on a mosque in Islamabad in which 31 people died, and more than 160 were injured. This was one of the deadliest attacks on Islamabad since the 2008 Marriott hotel bombing.

The Pakistani Army, in a statement, said that despite the repeated efforts to urge the Afghan Taliban regime to take verifiable measures to deny use of Afghan territory by terrorist groups and foreign proxies to carry out Terrorist activities in Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban Regime “failed to undertake any substantive action against them”.

“Pakistan has always strived to maintain peace and stability in the region, but at the same time, the safety and security of our citizens remains our top priority. In this backdrop, Pakistan, in a retributive response, has carried out intelligence-based selective targeting of seven Terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to the Pakistani Taliban of FAK and its affiliates and ISKP at the border region of Pakistan-Afghan border with precision and accuracy,” it added.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have been locked in an increasingly bitter dispute since the Taliban authorities retook control in Kabul in 2021. The relationship between the two countries has deteriorated sharply with deadly border clashes in recent months, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities of allowing Afghan soil to be used to harbour terrorists.

However, the Taliban government in Kabul denies the allegations.