Afghan authorities said that Pakistan had carried out airstrikes on Kabul and border provinces, killing at least four people in the capital and two in the east, in the latest deadly clashes in the long-running conflict.
Pakistani security sources said four “terrorist camps and support infrastructure” were “targeted and destroyed” in Kabul and frontier provinces, as well as an oil storage facility at Kandahar airport.
Islamabad last month launched a military operation against its neighbour following growing attacks in Pakistan.
But the Taliban has denied any involvement or the use of Afghan territory for extremist activities.
The UN mission in Afghanistan and Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran both said at least four people were killed in airstrikes in the capital, with women and children among the victims.
Zadran’s counterpart in the eastern province of Nangahar, Sayed Tayeed Hammad, said a woman and child were killed when a Pakistan mortar shell hit a house.
An AFP team in the Guzar area of Kabul saw one destroyed house and around a dozen others that were badly damaged, with collapsed roofs and walls.
There was a sizeable police presence in the area and visibly shocked local residents were in the streets, including some with bandaged faces.
“There aren’t any military posts here ... There are only ordinary people, poor people. They don’t have any involvement in politics,” Abdul Rahim Tarakil, a local representative said.
Abdul Wahid, a 29-year-old daily labourer, said he and four family members were wounded when his house was hit at about 12.10am.
“Suddenly, a noise came from another house. I don’t know what happened afterwards. All these bricks fell on me. Women and children were under the rubble as well,” he added.
“I was there for 10 minutes as if it was my last breath. Then my neighbours came, removed the bricks ... and took us to the clinic.”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on X that Pakistani strikes also hit the southern province of Kandahar, as well as eastern Paktia and Paktika, which border Pakistan.
In Kandahar, which is home to the administration’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, airstrikes hit a fuel depot for airline Kam Air, near the airport.
The company supplies fuel to civilian airlines and UN aircraft.
In Nangarhar province, eastern Afghanistan, a local army spokesman said anti-aircraft defences responded to Pakistani aircraft that flew overhead.
Residents reported firing from both sides near the Torkham border crossing, an AFP correspondent said, while a senior police officer in Kohat, northwest Pakistan, said “explosive material” was dropped from “drones”, wounding three.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Thursday that the border attacks “significantly damaged” its transit centre in Torkham for Afghans deported en masse from Pakistan.
“IOM will assess the damage and resume services for Afghan returnees as soon as conditions allow,” it added on X.
Pakistan insists it has not killed any civilians in the conflict. Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.
There have been repeated clashes at the border in recent weeks, hampering trade and forcing nearby residents to leave their homes. — AFP
