The Afghan Taliban government’s deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, said the Pakistani strikes killed 36 civilians.
The Afghan Taliban government’s deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, said the Pakistani strikes killed at least 36 civilians and wounded 163 others.
The Pakistan Taliban are a separate armed group from the Afghan Taliban, although the two are allies.
“The Chinese are trying to get a second round of meetings between the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistanis,” he said.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of harbouring fighters who carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban.
The Afghan Taliban government’s deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, said the Pakistani strikes killed 36 civilians.
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Pakistan’s security forces have carried out a ground operation and air strikes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in response to deadly attacks, killing 29 fighters, officials have said.
In a post on social media, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation was launched in response to multiple attacks by armed groups across the country.
“Three targets in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar were destroyed during precision strikes,” Tarar said on X, referring to three eastern Afghanistan provinces.
The Afghan Taliban government’s deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, said the Pakistani strikes killed at least 36 civilians and wounded 163 others.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry announced that it summoned the Pakistani charge d’affaires and handed him a protest note regarding the violation of Afghan airspace and the bombing of civilian homes in the eastern provinces of Kunar, Paktia, and Paktika.
Pakistan earlier announced that it summoned the Afghan charge d’affaires and handed him a strongly worded official protest note.
A statement from the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said the summons followed an attack in Karachi, southern Pakistan, on Saturday.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks targeting police and security forces in recent years. Authorities have blamed the Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, and allied armed groups for most of the violence.
On Saturday, fighters armed with guns and explosives targeted the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Rangers in the port city of Karachi, killing three soldiers.
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Security forces killed three attackers and arrested another assailant, whom the military identified as a wounded Afghan national.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistan Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack in a statement on Saturday night.
Tarar said Pakistan’s latest operation along the Afghan border targeted hideouts and safe havens of the Pakistan Taliban.
The Pakistan Taliban are a separate armed group from the Afghan Taliban, although the two are allies.
The Afghan Taliban returned to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021.
Reporting from Islamabad, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Haider said Pakistan “continues to insist that the Afghans have to do more if the Pakistanis are to stop doing attacks. For the moment, we are seeing tit-for-tat strikes, similar to February, when the two sides attacked each other.”
He also said that China was attempting to set up negotiations between the two sides.
“The Chinese are trying to get a second round of meetings between the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistanis,” he said. “Before that, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have asked Pakistan to de-escalate and go for a pause.”
The latest operations are likely to further strain the already tense relations between Islamabad and Kabul.
Sunday’s cross-border strikes and ground operation came less than three weeks after Pakistan’s military launched air strikes on what it said were fighter group hideouts in Afghanistan.
They ended about a month of relative calm following what Islamabad had described as an “open war” between the neighbouring countries, despite international efforts to broker a lasting peace.
The escalation follows months of tit-for-tat military action between the countries.
Hundreds of people have been killed in cross-border fighting since February, when Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikes after Pakistan carried out air strikes inside Afghan territory.
Multiple rounds of internationally mediated peace talks have failed to secure a lasting ceasefire.
China also hosted the two sides in April, and Beijing later said that Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed not to escalate their conflict and to explore a solution.
Since last year, Pakistan has carried out multiple strikes along the border and inside Afghanistan, targeting alleged hideouts of the Pakistan Taliban and other armed groups.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of harbouring fighters who carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban.
Kabul denies the accusations.
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“Pakistan continues to insist that there are safe havens inside Afghanistan, and as long as those attacks emanate from Afghanistan, Pakistan will reserve the right to retaliate,” Al Jazeera’s Haider said.
