<\/p>\n
An Afghan interim government official on Monday confirmed that strikes in the Afghanistan provinces of Paktika and Khost along the Pakistan border have taken place and claimed that eight people were killed.<\/p>\n
Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson of the government, alleged in a statement that Pakistani aircraft had carried out the airstrikes on Afghan soil. The Foreign Office and the Inter-Services Public Relations have yet to comment on the development. Dawn.com<\/em> has reached out to both of them.<\/p>\n At \u201caround 3am, Pakistani aircraft bombarded civilian homes\u201d in Khost and Paktika provinces near the border with Pakistan, said Afghan interim government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, claiming that all eight people killed were women and children.<\/p>\n Mujahid told Dawn.com<\/em> that planes had bombed the Laman area in Paktika\u2019s Barmal district and the Afghan-Dubai area in Khost\u2019s Spera district.<\/p>\n Alleging that \u201chouses of common people were targeted\u201d, he said three women and as many children were killed in Paktika and a house collapsed while two women were killed in Khost, where a house was destroyed as well.<\/p>\n The strikes come a day after President Asif Ali Zardari vowed<\/a> retaliation following the martyrdom of seven soldiers, including two officers, in a terrorist attack<\/a> on a security forces\u2019 post in North Waziristan on Saturday.<\/p>\n Offering the funeral prayers<\/a> of the two officers, he asserted that the blood of the martyrs would not go in vain and the country would avenge them. The president said Pakistan would not hesitate to strike back if attacked by anyone at borders or inside its territory.<\/p>\n The Hafiz Gul Bahadar group had claimed responsibility for the deadly attack in North Waziristan. Security officials say that fighters of the Gul Bahadar group operate from the Afghan side of the border, mostly from Khost.<\/p>\n The Paktika province is located near Pakistan\u2019s South Waziristan District while Khost is situated near North Waziristan.<\/p>\n Mujahid claimed: \u201cThe Pakistani side is saying that [militant] Abdullah Shah was targeted in the strikes but he lives on the Pakistani side. Members of the same tribe live on both sides and routinely move across the border.\u201d<\/p>\n He stated: \u201cThe Islamic Emirate strongly condemns the attacks and describes these as non-serious actions and violation of Afghanistani territory.\u201d<\/p>\n The spokesperson further said: \u201cPakistan should not blame Afghanistan for their problems and failure to control violent incidents. Such acts can lead to dire consequences which will not be in control of Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also confirmed the strikes.<\/p>\n The strikes come amid growing contact between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban rulers in recent days.<\/p>\n Pakistani charge d\u2019affaires in Kabul travelled<\/a> to Kandahar last week to meet Mullah Shirin Akhund, the Taliban governor for southern Kandahar who is one of the close confidants of the Taliban chief.<\/p>\n Jan Achakzai, the former caretaker Balochistan information minister, said, \u201cPakistan has avenged the blood of martyrs and targeted the safe havens of terrorists near the border.\u201d<\/p>\n In a post on X<\/a>, he said, \u201cIf there is any terror attack in Pakistan, we will conduct a strong attack inside Afghanistan. Remember, the life of a Pakistani is more valuable for us than the entire Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n Former caretaker foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, while extending his prayers for the soldiers martyred in the North Waziristan attack, said the army was \u201cfighting the evil forces of terror originating from Afghanistan\u201d. \u201cThis cowardly terror attack will be avenged,\u201d he said in a post on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwari said the strikes marked a \u201cturbulent page\u201d in Pak-Afghan relations.<\/p>\n \u201cThis marks a turbulent page in the relations between the new Pakistani government and the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan must now rue its investment and opportunities on the Taliban,\u201d Sarwari, who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban took over in August 2021, said in a post on X.<\/p>\n Cross-border attacks were also reported at Kurram District\u2019s Parachinar today, where the Turi Bangash tribe\u2019s elder Jalal Bangash condemned the \u201cbaseless attack from Afghanistan\u201d. He said such attacks on Pakistani territory should be refrained from in the future.<\/p>\n Malik Nazeer, a resident of the border area of Borki, told Dawn.com<\/em> that people on both sides of the border have started evacuating the area.<\/p>\n \u2018Avenged blood of martyrs\u2019: ex-Balochistan minister<\/h2>\n
Cross-border firing in Kurram<\/h2>\n