KABUL — Afghanistan said on Wednesday Pakistan’s military launched new airstrikes targeting the country, killing at least 13 people, most of them children, and wounding 14 others.
The air attacks on the provinces of Kunar, Khost and Paktika late on Tuesday were the deadliest in weeks and follow a period of relative calm at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
Zabihullah Mujahid, chief spokesman for Afghanistan’s Taliban government, said in a post on X that the victims of the attacks included 11 children, one woman and an elderly man.
He said 14 other women and children were wounded.
“We strongly condemn this humanitarian crime and act of aggression,” he added.
There was no immediate comment on the strikes from Pakistan.
Islamabad has previously claimed attacks in Afghanistan, saying it targeted fighters from the Pakistan Taliban (TTP).
An official in the Khost province told AFP that a house in the Spera district was struck, killing nine people and wounding 10 others. In the neighboring Paktika province, two residents said a separate attack killed three civilians in the Barmal district. The air raid hit a home, and those killed were children, one of the residents said.
The air attacks came a day after suspected fighters from the TTP attacked a security post in the Hasan Khel area of northwestern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan. The attack triggered an intense gun battle in which six members of the Federal Constabulary – a federal Pakistani paramilitary force – were killed and several others wounded, according to Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fraught since the Taliban took power for a second time in 2021, with fighting escalating sharply in late February after Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani air attacks.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harbouring fighters that carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistan Taliban or TTP.
Afghan officials deny the charge, countering that Pakistan harbours hostile groups and does not respect its sovereignty.
The United Nations reported in May that cross-border fighting had killed at least 372 Afghan civilians and injured another 397 in the first three months of 2026.
Source: Saudi Gazette