Nine children killed in Pakistani airstrike in Afghanistan: Taliban
The Taliban government of Afghanistan has said that at least nine children and one woman were killed in an airstrike by Pakistani forces in the country’s Khost province.
On Tuesday, Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid stated that the attack was carried out on the house of a local resident in Khost.
He also said that Pakistan had carried out attacks in the provinces of Kunar and Paktika. Four more people were injured in those two provinces.
In a post on social media platform X, Mujahid wrote, “At 12 a.m. last night, Pakistani invading forces bombed the house of a local civilian, Bilayat Khan, in the Garbazo district of Khost. As a result, 9 children (5 boys and 4 girls) and one woman were killed, and their house was destroyed.”
He attached pictures along with the post, according to Reuters.
Reuters reported that it was not immediately able to reach Pakistan’s military or the country’s foreign ministry for comments on the Taliban’s allegation.
The attack was carried out less than 24 hours after two suicide bombings at a paramilitary headquarters in Peshawar, the capital and largest city of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killed three soldiers.
In October, clashes occurred between the military forces of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Many people on both sides were killed at that time. It was the deadliest confrontation since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
In the same month, both sides signed a ceasefire agreement in Doha, the capital of Qatar. However, subsequent peace talks between the two sides in Turkey failed. Pakistan alleges that armed militants are using Afghan soil to carry out deadly attacks in Pakistan. But Afghanistan has rejected this allegation, and as a result, the discussions held to achieve a long-term peace agreement did not progress further.
