Pakistani attack in Afghanistan's Khost kills nine children: Kabul

Kabul, Nov 25: At least ten civilians, including nine children, were killed after Pakistani forces struck a residential area in Afghanistan’s Khost province, the Afghan government said on Tuesday.

The attack, according to officials, took place shortly after midnight and targeted the home of a local resident, reigniting concerns about escalating hostilities along the border.

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the caretaker Afghan government, stated that the strike occurred around 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday in the Mughalgai area of Khost’s Gurbuz district.

He said in a post on X that “the Pakistani invading forces bombed the house of a local civilian resident, Waliat Khan, son of Qazi Mir. As a result, nine children (five boys and four girls) and one woman were martyred, and his house was destroyed.”

Mujahid also confirmed that separate airstrikes were conducted the same night, adding, “Air strikes also occurred in Kunar and Paktika, where four civilians were injured.”

The latest strike in Khost has now raised fears of another cycle of violence as tensions once again spike along the volatile border region. This follows a brief lull in cross-border violence between the two neighbours after intense clashes in October.

On October 9, Pakistan launched airstrikes in Kabul, Khost, Jalalabad, and Paktika, triggering retaliatory action by the Afghan Taliban. Between the night of October 11 and 12, Taliban forces attacked multiple Pakistani military posts along the Afghanistan-Pakistan frontier, prompting heavy exchanges.

After the assaults, the Taliban’s Ministry of Defence claimed their operation had concluded, though Pakistani officials dismissed any ceasefire announcement and continued their military actions.

A Taliban spokesman confirmed at the time that fighting carried on into the morning of October 12.

Both countries asserted that they had inflicted severe losses on each other and destroyed or seized several border positions.