A Taliban government spokesperson told AFP on Wednesday that 46 people were killed in Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan’s eastern border provinces.
Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said: “Last night (Tuesday), Pakistan shelled four locations in Barmal district of Paktika province. The total number of deaths was 46, most of them children and women.”
It added that six more people were injured, most of them children.
In a statement late Tuesday, the Ministry of Defense condemned Pakistan’s recent attacks on Afghan territory, calling them “barbaric” and “blatant aggression.”
“The Islamic Emirate will not allow this dastardly act to continue, but rather considers the defense of its territory and sovereignty to be an inalienable right,” the statement said, citing Taliban officials.
A deadly airstrike by Pakistan’s military on the Afghan border in March left eight civilians dead, Taliban officials said, and sparked skirmishes on the frontier.
Murrell, a resident of Barmar, told AFP that 18 members of one family were killed in Tuesday’s strike.
“The shelling hit two or three houses, and in one house 18 people were killed, the entire family lost their lives,” he said.
He said the strike killed three people in another house and injured several others who were taken to hospital.
Border tensions between the two countries have escalated since the Taliban regime took power in 2021, with Pakistan battling a resurgence of insurgent violence in its western border region.
Islamabad has accused Taliban authorities in Kabul of harboring militants and allowing attacks on Pakistani territory with impunity.
Kabul denies the charges.
The attack comes after the Pakistani Taliban (known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which shares a common ideology with the Afghan Taliban) attacked a military outpost near the Afghan border last week. It was carried out after claiming that it had been done. Intelligence officials said 16 soldiers were killed.
There has been no official comment from Pakistani authorities on the recent attacks on Afghan territory.
Earlier on Tuesday, senior Taliban officials were meeting with Pakistan’s visiting special envoy for Afghanistan in Kabul.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
