Kabul [Afghanistan], October 1 (ANI): Pakistan stood exposed again as its fresh air strikes on Afghanistan killed civilians including children. The military airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Helmand provinces resulted in the deaths of at least 10 civilians, most of them children.
The attack has once again drawn international attention to the heavy toll inflicted on non-combatants by Islamabad’s cross-border operations in Afghanistan.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) referred to the casualties in a post on X, also stating that nine people also sustained injuries during the military strikes.
“UNAMA has confirmed that at least 10 civilians were killed, most of them children, and 9 people injured in airstrikes carried out in #Afghanistan’s Kunar and Helmand provinces earlier today,” the post read.
This comes amid escalating hostile cross-border actions between the two South Asian neighbours.
The Afghan government stated earlier in the day that recent Pakistani airstrikes have killed nine people and injured eleven others across Afghan territory.
The destructive bombardment targeted residential areas, obliterating three houses situated within Kunar and Helmand provinces, Afghan government chief spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement shared on the social media platform X.
Confirming the mounting civilian casualties resulting from the military aggression, the chief spokesperson stated that at least nine people were killed, including women and children.
Strongly denouncing the unjustified military assault, Mujahid asserted, “We condemn this act as an aggression and crime in violation of all accepted principles.”
The deadly strikes form part of a pattern of hostile military actions by Pakistan, which has repeatedly carried out unauthorised airstrikes inside sovereign Afghan territory as bilateral tensions escalated dramatically earlier this year amid longstanding border disputes.
Last Thursday, Pakistan carried out what it described as precision aerial and drone strikes at 10 locations across Afghanistan, Dawn reported, citing Federal Information Minister Atauallah Tarar.
According to Dawn, Tarar, in a post on X, said that the latest strikes were conducted in response to drones launched from Afghanistan a day earlier. He said the targets were locations allegedly used for launching and storing the drones.
The minister further added that the strikes were focused on military objectives that Pakistan linked directly to the attempted drone attacks.
“In exercise of its sovereign right to self-defence, Pakistan conducted precision aerial and drone strikes against 10 locations in Afghanistan used for launching and storing these drones,” Tarar’s post read.
This came days after Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Kunar and Paktika provinces killed three civilians.
According to a TOLOnews report, the Rakha and Torkandi areas of Barmal district in Paktika province were targeted in two separate strikes early Monday. A separate strike in Kunar reportedly killed three people and injured several others.
Subsequently, the Afghan government accused the Pakistani military of targeting civilian areas and described the strikes as a repetition of what he called “crimes” against Afghanistan. The government further vowed an “appropriate response” to Pakistani airstrikes.
In a post on X, Government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said three civilians were killed and four others wounded in Kunar, while a house and a local shop were damaged in an attack in Paktika. He said there were no casualties reported in the Paktika incident.
“We condemn this aggression and oppression and consider it a repetition of crimes. Pakistan’s military establishment, in order to divert attention from its own internal security failures, has once again committed such a crime. Afghans will give an appropriate response to this aggression, God willing,” he added.
Exposing the severe humanitarian toll of Islamabad’s military campaigns, the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan reported last week that it had documented over 1,100 civilian casualties resulting from cross-border violence so far this year.
While Pakistan routinely attempts to deflect international criticism by denying civilian casualties and claiming to target militants, Kabul maintains its firm stance, rejecting baseless allegations of harbouring militant groups.
Islamabad has continually accused the Afghan government of allowing factions such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan to operate from Afghan soil, allegations that Kabul has categorically dismissed as unfounded and part of Pakistan’s attempts to shift blame for its own internal security failures. (ANI)