Pakistan launches fresh strikes on Kabul and border provinces, Afghan government says

KABUL - The Afghan authorities said on March 13 that Pakistan had carried out new strikes on Afghanistan’s capital Kabul and border provinces, killing four people in the capital.

A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Pakistan struck overnight, adding that its forces targeted the Pakistani Taliban militant group known as TTP.

Islamabad in February launched a wave of air strikes on its neighbour, an operation it says is targeting militancy following growing attacks in Pakistan.

But the Taliban government has denied any involvement or the use of Afghan territory for militancy.

Mr Khalil Zadran, a spokesman for the Kabul police, said four people were killed and 15 wounded in a bombardment that hit homes in the capital, with women and children among the victims.

An AFP news agency team in the Guzar area of Kabul saw one house that was destroyed and around a dozen others that were badly damaged, with collapsed roofs and walls.

There was a sizeable police presence in the area, and visibly shocked local residents were in the streets.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on social media platform X that Pakistani strikes also hit the southern province of Kandahar, as well as eastern Paktia and Paktika, which border Pakistan.

In Kandahar, which is home to the Afghan administration’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, air strikes hit a fuel depot for airline Kam Air, near the airport.

The company supplies fuel to civilian airlines and United Nations aircraft.

Pakistan insists it has not killed any civilians in the conflict. Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.

Afghan and Pakistani forces have clashed repeatedly at the border in recent weeks, hampering trade and forcing nearby residents to leave their homes.

‘Open war’

The United Nations’ mission in Afghanistan said 56 civilians, including 24 children, were killed in Afghanistan by Pakistani military operations between Feb 26 and March 5.

About 115,000 people were forced to leave their homes, according to the UN refugee agency.

Dozens of people were killed in fighting between the two countries in October, which led to a near-total closure of the border.

Clashes reduced after mediation but the conflict intensified on Feb 26, when Afghanistan launched an offensive along the frontier, in retaliation for earlier Pakistani air strikes targeting the TTP.

Pakistan then declared “open war” against the Taliban authorities, bombing Kabul on Feb 27.

Since then, clashes have increased in border regions, including overnight from March 11 to 12.

The Taliban government said on March 12 that four members of the same family, including two children, were killed by Pakistani artillery and mortar fire in eastern Afghanistan.

The International Organization for Migration reported major damage to its transit centre at the Torkham border crossing for Afghans deported en masse from Pakistan.

Seven people have been killed in Afghanistan since March 10 as a result of cross-border clashes between the two sides, according to the authorities in Kabul.

Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the latest deaths happened early on March 12 in the village of Sadqo in Khost province, accusing Pakistan of deliberately targeting civilian homes and nomads’ tents. AFP