Taliban authorities warned Pakistan on Saturday after five children and a woman were killed in Afghanistan in alleged rocket attacks by Pakistani forces in a pre-dawn attack on the border.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns the Pakistani bombing and attack on the territory of Afghanistan,” government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters in an audio statement.
“This is cruelty and paves the way for enmity between Afghanistan and Pakistan… We use every opportunity to prevent recurrence (of such attacks) and call for respect for our sovereignty,” he said.
“The Pakistani side needs to know that if a war breaks out, it will not be in the interests of any country. This will cause instability in the region. “
The Pakistani military was not immediately available for comment.
Hundreds of Host civilians took to the streets, chanting anti-Pakistani slogans later Saturday.
Protesters protest Pakistani airstrikes in Host on April 16, 2022. At least five children and a woman were killed in the eastern Afghan province when Pakistani forces fired rockets at the border in a pre-dawn attack [AFP].
Tensions on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border have risen since the Taliban seized power last year.
Islamabad claims that armed groups are launching attacks on Pakistan from Afghanistan.
The Taliban have refused to hide from Pakistani extremists and are outraged by the construction of a fence that Pakistan is building along their 2,700-kilometer (1,600-mile) border, known as the Durand Line.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it was “deeply concerned” about the deaths of civilians caused by air strikes, and the mission is investigating the death toll.
Kunar Najibullah Information Director Hassan Abdaal told AFP: “Five children and a woman were killed and one man was injured in a rocket attack in Pakistan in the Shelton district of Kunar.”
Ehsanullah, a Shelton resident who bears the same name as many Afghans, said the attack was carried out by Pakistani warplanes. He confirmed the death toll.
According to another Afghan government official, a similar pre-dawn attack took place in the Afghan province of Khost near the border.
“Pakistani helicopters bombed four villages near the Durand line in Khost province,” he said on condition of anonymity.
“Only civilian houses were shelled and there were casualties,” he added, but gave no further details.
TOLO News, Afghanistan’s leading private television channel, showed footage of houses destroyed in the Host attack.
“All the people targeted were innocent civilians who had nothing to do with the Taliban or the government,” Rasul Jan, a resident of Host, told the channel.
“We do not know who our enemy is and why we were targeted.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the Pakistani ambassador to Kabul to protest the attacks.
“Such military violations, including in Khost and Kunar, must be prevented, as ill-wishers and self-interest groups will use these incidents,” Foreign Minister Amir Khan Mutaki told a Pakistani envoy on Saturday, according to a ministry statement.
Limit voltage
At least seven Pakistani soldiers were ambushed by an armed group near the Afghan border on Thursday.
According to a military statement, a Pakistani military convoy at a former Pakistani Taliban stronghold, known by the acronym TTP, near the Afghan border, was ambushed, sparking an intense shootout in which seven soldiers and four members of the armed group were killed.
[Al Jazeera]
The statement said the ambush took place in the Isham area of North Waziristan, an area in the volatile northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“The Pakistani military is determined to eliminate the threat of terrorism and such sacrifices by our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve,” the statement said.
There was no immediate responsibility.
The incident comes after the Pakistani military announced on Thursday that 128 gunmen had been killed in the region bordering Afghanistan since January.
The military acknowledged that nearly 100 soldiers had been killed in similar attacks during the same period.
Paying tribute to the fallen soldiers, Pakistan’s new prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said Islamabad “will continue to fight terrorism”.
North Waziristan – once called the “heart of militancy” – is one of seven former semi-autonomous tribal regions in Pakistan, where the military has conducted a series of 2014 operations to eliminate the Pakistani Taliban.
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