4 Pakistani brothers killed in cross-border fire from Afghanistan

ISTANBUL / ISLAMABAD

Four brothers were killed in cross-border firing from Afghanistan, Pakistan's Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said.

The victims were brothers, and the incident occurred in the Salarzai area of the Bajaur district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, Tarar said on US social media company X.

He stated that a five-year-old child was "seriously injured as the house was hit in this attack."

There was no immediate reaction from Kabul to the reported incident.

Separately, Tarar said earlier in the day that Islamabad carried out overnight strikes on “targeted military installations including terrorist hideouts.”

According to him, a “technical support infrastructure and equipment storage facility in Kandahar (province),” a tunnel housing “technical equipment of Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij,” and “a terrorist (jump-off) point at Badini Post of Afghanistan” were destroyed.

The Afghan Defense Ministry, for its part, claimed its forces targeted a military base in Wana town in the South Waziristan district of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province “in retaliation for the attacks on Kandahar,” according to Afghanistan’s Bakhtar News Agency.

“A significant portion of the headquarters and critical infrastructure was destroyed, resulting in heavy casualties among Pakistani military personnel,” the agency reported, citing officials.

Pakistan's Information Ministry, however, denied the report, saying that it was “a rudimentary drone” destroyed over South Waziristan “through soft kill measures.”

“No military installation or infrastructure was hit,” it said.

Afghan Deputy Spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat later said on X that a civilian was killed in an attack in Kandahar, adding that there were no reported casualties in Pakistan’s overnight strikes in the province.

Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have worsened in recent weeks as border tensions escalated last month, causing casualties and property damage.

Since late February, Islamabad claims that clashes on both sides have killed 105 people, including 13 soldiers and five civilians in Pakistan, with one soldier still missing. However, Kabul reports that 13 soldiers and 73 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan.

According to UN data, 185 civilian casualties, including 56 deaths from indirect fire and aerial attacks, were reported in Afghanistan between Feb. 26 and March 5.

Pakistan says it targets only terrorists and accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants who attack its territory, a claim Kabul denies.

Tarar said Islamabad has killed 684 Afghan Taliban operatives and militants, while Kabul claims 74 Pakistani soldiers have been killed – figures that could not be independently verified.