ISLAMABAD: Pakistani drones and fighter jets carried out multiple airstrikes in Afghanistan, including one in Kabul, hunting down Islamist militants blamed for a bombing that killed several soldiers this week, sources said on Friday (Oct 10).
The overnight drone strikes targeted the chief of the Pakistani Taliban, a group different from the Afghan ruling militia, in central Kabul, intelligence sources in Islamabad told dpa.
A guest house and a car suspected of being used by the elusive chief of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), Noor Wali Mehsud, were hit by missiles shortly before midnight, the officials said.
It was not clear whether Mehsud was killed in the strikes. "Our sources on the ground are trying to confirm it,” one of the officials said, seeking anonymity.
Afghan broadcaster Amu Television said the TTP chief was killed, while the Afghan Taliban said there had been no casualties in the attack.
Pakistani Taliban sources said Mehsud was in Kabul but did not state whether or not he had been killed.
The Pakistani Taliban, a deadly group of Islamist militants allegedly based in Afghanistan’s border regions, is blamed for a growing number of attacks targeting Pakistani security forces in recent years.
Islamabad blames the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan for supporting, or at least sheltering, the group despite several warnings.
Pakistani officials said fighter jets also bombed at least three other places in the border provinces of Paktika and Khost, targeting compounds being used by the militants as camps.
It was not the first time that Pakistan has targeted Islamist militants in Afghanistan's border regions, but Kabul has never before been hit.
The strikes are likely to further strain the already hostile relations between the neighbours amid a history of deadly clashes in recent years. - dpa
