Pakistan conducted airstrikes on northeastern Afghanistan on Monday on what Pakistan’s Ministry of Information described as suicide bomber training facilities.
It was the first Pakistani strike of its kind on Afghan territory since June, and followed soon after an attack targeting Pakistani police across the border in Kohat.
The uneasy neighbors reported seemingly conflicting casualty tolls.
What were the conflicting accounts on the strikes?
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting claimed online that the attacks had targeted terrorist training sites in Afghanistan with “precision and accuracy.”
“Three targets were destroyed with precision including a Suicide Bombers training markaz [station], killing 28 terrorists alongside multiple suicide bombers. Large quantities of weapons and ammunition … were also destroyed,” the Ministry said.
The Taliban government in Kabul, meanwhile, claimed that three people were killed as it accused Pakistan of bombarding “civilian homes.”
Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said that the strikes took place in the Kunar and Paktika provinces.
Fitrat wrote on X that one strike hit at around 3:00 am Monday (2230 UTC, Sunday) in Kunar’s Nurgal district and “completely destroyed” a house, adding that three people were killed and four other members of the family were wounded.
He said that two locations were also hit in the Paktika province, claiming that a shop and an unoccupied house were destroyed.
Neither side’s assertions on the details of and casualties from the strikes could be immediately verified.
Strikes follow last week’s militant attack in Pakistan
The reported strikes come after a suicide bombing and a 20-hour gun battle between militants and police on Friday, which took place at a district police headquarters compound in the Pakistani city of Kohat, situated near the Afghan border.
At least 31 people, including 16 police officers, were killed in the attack.
Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, a local militant group linked to the jihadist group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict
Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been tense since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
The latest strikes threaten to shatter three months of relative calm after former South Asian allies engaged in their worst clashes in years in February.
Pakistan declared that month that it was in an “open war” with Afghanistan, following a rise in militant attacks on civilians and security forces inside Pakistan.
Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikes after Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghan territory and the cross-border fighting has since claimed the lives of hundreds of people.
Pakistan last mounted deadly airstrikes in Afghanistan in June.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of sheltering militant groups which launch attacks inside Pakistan’s territory.
Main among these is the TTP, often referred to as the Pakistani Taliban and Baloch separatist groups from the border areas.
The Taliban has dismissed the allegations, saying that militancy in Pakistan is an internal problem.
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Edited by: Karl Sexton
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