Pakistani strikes kill 13 civilians on Afghan border, officials say

Hostilities flared up on the Afghan-Pakistan border overnight as strikes by the Pakistani military killed 13 civilians, Afghan officials have said.

The strikes took place in the Afghan border provinces of Kunar, Khost, and Paktika, according to Zabihullah Mujahid, a government spokesman. It marks the deadliest episode in weeks, following a period of relative calm.

The Pakistani bombing claimed the lives of “11 children, one woman, and one elderly man,” Mujahid posted on X. Fourteen others were injured, he said, including women and children.

An AFP report quoting an unidentified official in Khost said a strike on a house in Spera district killed nine and wounded 11. Residents of a neighboring province said a separate attack claimed three civilians in Barmal district. The deceased were all children, a resident said.

Pakistan has accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of sheltering armed groups that conduct cross-border raids and terrorist attacks, including the bombing of a mosque in Islamabad in February that killed more than 30 people.Afghanistan has, in turn, accused Pakistan of “unforgivable war crimes.” Low-intensity clashes have continued on the Afghan-Pakistan border despite the two nations agreeing to a truce in late March.

Islamabad has repeatedly said its strikes in Afghanistan are aimed at insurgents carrying out attacks on its territory and that it does not target civilians.

But a United Nations report published last month put the death toll of Afghan civilians at 372 in the first three months of this year. It said 397 people have been wounded in the conflict.

Pakistan partly attributes the strain in its relationship with Kabul to the latter’s increasing engagement with its longtime rival, India.