Pakistani airstrike kills nine children – Afghanistan

A late-night Pakistani airstrike on a home in the southern Afghan province of Khost has killed at least nine children, a Taliban administration spokesman said on Tuesday.

The Khost bombing also killed a woman, and strikes in Kunar and Patrika injured four civilians, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated on X.

“Last night at around 12 o’clock in the Gorbuz district of Khost province, in the Mughalgai area, the Pakistani invading forces bombed the house of a local civilian resident, Waliat Khan, son of Qazi Mir,” Mujahid said. “As a result, nine children [five boys and four girls] and one woman were martyred, and his house was destroyed.”

The strikes pose a serious challenge to the ceasefire agreed to between Kabul and Islamabad last month.

The neighboring states clashed in October, killing dozens, in the worst violence since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.

The escalation was attributed to border security and militant activity. Islamabad accused Kabul of sheltering Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters, allegations that the Taliban administration has dismissed.

The overnight strikes on Tuesday in Afghanistan came a day after a suicide attack targeted the headquarters of Pakistan’s Federal Constabulary force in Peshawar.

A splinter group of the TTP has claimed responsibility for the Peshawar attack.

Pakistan has not officially commented on Kabul’s allegations, but its Inter-Services Public Relations department said in a statement that it killed 22 terrorists in an intelligence-based operation in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.