adminreporter
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for strikes in Afghanistan that left 10 people dead, alleging that Pakistan carried out the attacks on Monday in Khost, Kunar, and Paktika provinces, as tensions rise following a recent bombing in Pakistan’s Peshawar city.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on X that “the Pakistani invading forces bombed the house of a local civilian resident … As a result, nine children (five boys and four girls) and one woman were martyred”.
He added that airstrikes near the border also wounded four civilians. Pakistan’s government and military have not yet commented on the incident.
The strikes came a day after a suicide attack on the headquarters of Pakistan’s paramilitary Federal Constabulary in Peshawar, which killed three officers and injured 11 others. No group has claimed responsibility, but Pakistan’s state broadcaster PTV reported that the attackers were Afghan nationals.
President Asif Zardari blamed the “foreign-backed Fitna al-Khawarij”, Islamabad’s label for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which it accuses of operating from Afghan territory.
Earlier this month, another suicide bombing in Islamabad killed 12 people. A faction of the Pakistan Taliban claimed that attack, and Pakistani officials blamed a militant cell “guided at every step by the… high command based in Afghanistan”.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Tensions worsened after deadly border clashes in October that left about 70 people dead on both sides.
A ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey paused the fighting, but later talks in Istanbul failed to produce a lasting agreement. Security concerns, especially Pakistan’s demand that Kabul rein in TTP fighters remain unresolved.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban of sheltering the TTP and other groups behind a rise in attacks in Pakistan. Kabul denies this and argues that Pakistan supports factions hostile to Afghanistan and violates its sovereignty.
(The Guardian UK)
