Pakistan denies carrying out airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan which killed 10
Interim Afghan administration spokesperson had claimed Pakistani forces launched overnight airstrikes in Khost, Paktika and Kunar provinces
Aftermath of a Pakistani attack on Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD
Pakistan on Tuesday denied claims by the Taliban administration in Kabul that air strikes by Pakistani forces killed at least 10 people in eastern Afghanistan overnight.
Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson of the Afghan Taliban, had said that Pakistan allegedly hit a civilian house in the Gorbuz district of Khost province last night, killing ten people, including children and a woman.
“Air strikes also occurred in Kunar and Paktika, where four civilians were injured,” Mujahid wrote on the US social media company X.
Condemning the "violation," Mujahid called the alleged airstrikes "direct assault on Afghanistan’s sovereignty."
Pakistan rejects Kabul’s claim
Pakistan’s military dismissed the accusation.
Army spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told reporters in Rawalpindi that the allegations from the Taliban administration were “baseless.”
“Whenever Pakistan attacks, it does that openly,” Chaudhry said, adding that Islamabad’s “war is against terrorists not the Afghans.”
He said there would be no talks with Kabul until the Taliban take “verifiable” action against militants operating from Afghan soil.
The latest alleged strike came amid an uneasy pause in hostilities and ongoing mediation efforts between two neighboring nations.
Pakistan says Islamabad suicide bomber traveled to Afghanistan
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Tuesday that the perpetrator of a recent suicide attack in Islamabad had traveled to Afghanistan and had links with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
He told a news conference that four suspects were arrested within 48 hours of the bombing, which killed at least 12 people and injured nearly three dozen others earlier this month.
Tarar also played a confessional video of one alleged perpetrator, Sajidullah alias Sheena, who admitted that he had traveled to Afghanistan and met with TTP leaders before planning the attack in Islamabad.
22 militants killed in Bannu operation
Separately, at least 22 militants were killed by security forces in an intelligence-based operation in Bannu district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday, the military said in a statement on Tuesday.
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