ISLAMABAD/KABUL, Sept 24 (Reuters) – Pakistan said its air force struck 10 locations in Afghanistan on Thursday, which were being used to launch and store drones, some of which had been used against Pakistan a day earlier, the latest sign of escalation between the allies-turned-foes.
Kabul said the strikes killed four civilians.
The two Muslim neighbours have increasingly been at odds over expanding insurgencies in their western and northwestern border region.
Islamabad accuses Kabul of harbouring Islamist militants who stage cross-border attacks; Afghanistan’s Taliban government denies this, saying militancy is Pakistan’s internal problem.
Pakistan’s air defence systems detected drones launched from Afghan territory on Wednesday, which were tracked and neutralised before they could reach any of their intended targets, its Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a post on X.
Pakistan then conducted the “precision aerial and drone strikes” on 10 locations, which were “limited to identified military objectives” linked to the attempted attacks, he said.
“Any further provocative act by Afghan Taliban will be responded with firm and resolute response,” the minister said.
Taliban officials denied that their government launched drones against Pakistan on Wednesday.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s main spokesperson, said the air strikes on Thursday were launched in Kandahar, Paktia, and Khost provinces. He warned of an appropriate response.
“Such reckless, careless, and hostile actions will undoubtedly provoke the anger of the Afghan people and will have adverse consequences for the Pakistani military,” he said in a statement.
An attack on a police facility in northwestern Pakistan last week, which killed at least 24 people, has reignited fighting between the countries after nearly three months of relative calm.
Pakistan’s government earlier this week also said it had launched airstrikes in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, killing 28 militants, while Afghan Taliban officials accused Islamabad of killing three civilians in overnight strikes on Afghan territory.
The worst single incident, however, occurred in March, when more than 400 people were killed in a Pakistani airstrike on Kabul, which the Afghan Taliban said hit a drug rehabilitation centre.
Islamabad denied the charge, saying it “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure”.
(Reporting by Carlos Méndez in Mexico City, Sayed Hassib and Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul, and Rick Noack in Islamabad; Writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Lincoln Feast and Thomas Derpinghaus)
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