Pakistan Strikes Afghanistan Again, Kabul Says 4 Killed
Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the strikes hit Kandahar, Paktia, and Khost provinces.
Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Islamabad carried out precision air and drone strikes against 10 sites inside Afghanistan, framing the operation as a response to drones launched from Afghan soil that Pakistani forces had detected and shot down.
Tarar said the drone incursions into Pakistani territory occurred Wednesday, calling them a "blatant violation" of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Pakistani security sources reported that at least eight drones were intercepted Wednesday near the Torkham border crossing and in the Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan. Tarar said the country's air defense network detected, tracked, and neutralized every drone before any could strike its intended target.
"In exercise of its sovereign right to self-defense, Pakistan conducted precision aerial and drone strikes against 10 locations in Afghanistan used for launching and storing these drones," Tarar said.
He characterized the retaliatory strikes as "deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate," insisting they were confined to military targets that Pakistani officials linked directly to the attempted drone attacks. Tarar demanded that the Afghan Taliban immediately halt hostile activity against Pakistan and take "effective, concrete, verifiable and sustained action against terrorist entities" based in Afghan territory.
Thursday's strikes mark the second Pakistani military action inside Afghanistan this week alone. Kabul says three people were killed Monday in a separate strike in Kunar province. That earlier operation came after Islamabad said it had hit militant hideouts along the border in response to two "terrorist attacks" inside Pakistan over the weekend that killed 30 people, including 18 police officers, six civilians, and six soldiers.
Kabul condemns 'indiscriminate, cowardly attacks'
Afghan spokesman Mujahid accused Pakistan of outright "aggression" in ordering the strikes.
"As a result of this criminal aggression, four Afghan civilians were martyred," Mujahid said in a statement posted to X.
He said Kabul "strongly condemns these indiscriminate and cowardly attacks."
Mujahid also dismissed Pakistan's justification for the strikes, saying: "In an apparent attempt to justify such brazen aggression and oppression, Pakistani military circles spread a claim yesterday that drones had allegedly crossed into their territory from Afghanistan." He warned that these "shameless acts of aggression and attacks by the Pakistani military regime will be met with an appropriate response through a decisive stance."
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