Taliban government says Pakistani bombardments kill 3 in Afghanistan

Pakistan "bombarded civilian homes" in two eastern provinces of Afghanistan, killing three people, the Taliban government in Kabul said on Monday. One attack at around 3:00 am on Monday (2230 GMT on Sunday) in Nurgal district, Kunar province, "completely destroyed" a house, killing three and wounding four members of the same family, deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said on X.

Kunar police spokesman Farid Dehqan told AFP that "Pakistani jets carried out" the strike. Two locations in Paktika province were also bombarded, destroying one shop and one unoccupied house, but causing no casualties, Fitrat said.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the "aggression" and said that "Afghans will give it an appropriate response". The alleged bombardments came after an explosive and gun attack on a police headquarters in northern Pakistan on Friday that killed at least 31 people, including 16 police officers.

The local group Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, a faction linked to the jihadist group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of supporting jihadist groups responsible for deadly attacks on its territory, an allegation the Taliban government in Afghanistan denies.

Pakistan's previous deadly airstrikes in Afghanistan occurred in June and killed around 30 people in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces. Pakistan said it had targeted a TTP faction and killed fighters, while the Taliban government reported civilian casualties. The two neighbours have had particularly tense relations since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.At the beginning of the year, Pakistan stepped up its bombings, including on Kabul. The deadliest strike hit a drug addiction hospital in the Afghan capital on 16 March, killing at least 269 civilians, according to the United Nations.

Agence France-Presse