Pakistan denies carrying out deadly air strikes inside Afghanistan

Pakistan has denied claims by the Taliban administration in Kabul that air strikes by Pakistani forces killed at least 10 people in eastern Afghanistan overnight.

Army spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told reporters in Rawalpindi on Tuesday 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 terrorists operating from Afghan soil.

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson of the Afghan Taliban, had said that Pakistan allegedly hit a civilian house in the Gurbuz district of Khost province Tuesday night, killing 10 people, including children and a woman.

“Air strikes also occurred in Kunar and Paktika, where four civilians were injured,” Mujahid wrote on X.

Recent terror attack

Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Tuesday that the perpetrator of a recent suicide attack in Islamabad had travelled to Afghanistan and had links with the Tehrik-i-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 wounded 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 travelled to Afghanistan and met with TTP leaders before planning the attack in Islamabad.

TTP is an alliance of several terror groups formed in 2007 that primarily targets Pakistan.

The violence perpetrated by terrorist groups, especially TTP, within Pakistan has significantly strained its relations with the Afghan Taliban.

The latter returned to power in Kabul following the withdrawal of US-led forces in 2021.

According to Pakistani military officials, more than 500 people, including over 311 soldiers, have been killed in attacks, largely carried out by the TTP, so far this year.

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Source: TRT