KABUL, Afghanistan – Pakistan said Monday that its forces killed 28 militants in airstrikes inside Afghanistan, while Afghan authorities reported that three civilians were killed and four others wounded in the attacks.
The strikes hit areas in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces of Kunar and Paktika, according to Afghan officials. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan confirmed the civilian deaths and injuries in Kunar, adding that the circumstances surrounding the casualties were being documented.
The competing accounts could not immediately be independently reconciled. Pakistan described the targets as militant camps and hideouts, while Afghan officials said a civilian home was among the structures hit.
The strikes marked a renewed escalation between the neighboring countries after nearly three months of relative calm and followed a series of deadly militant attacks in Pakistan.
Pakistan says strikes targeted militant infrastructure
Pakistan’s Information Ministry said the military conducted a planned operation against militant groups following recent attacks inside Pakistan.
The ministry said the subsequent airstrikes were aimed at what it described as hideouts and safe havens belonging to terrorist organizations responsible for those attacks. Pakistan reported that 28 militants were killed.
A Pakistani security official told Reuters that the strikes took place in Kunar and Paktika provinces. Pakistan’s military did not immediately issue a separate public statement confirming the reported death toll.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban authorities in Kabul of allowing militants from the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, to operate from Afghan territory.
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Afghanistan denies the accusation and says militant violence inside Pakistan is an internal problem.
Afghan authorities report civilian casualties
Afghan deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the strikes occurred at about 3 a.m. in Nurgal district of Kunar and Barmal district of Paktika.
Fitrat said a home belonging to a local resident in Kunar’s Pathan village was struck, killing three members of the same family and wounding four others. He said two other locations in Barmal were damaged but were unoccupied and caused no additional casualties.
The United Nations confirmed the civilian toll.
UNAMA said it had verified the deaths of at least three civilians, including a man, a woman and a girl, and injuries to four others from apparent airstrikes in Kunar. The mission called for respect for international humanitarian law and measures to prevent civilian casualties.
The UN confirmation does not establish Pakistan’s reported militant death toll, which remains a separate claim by Islamabad.
Strikes follow deadly attacks in Pakistan
The Pakistani strikes came after two serious security incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
On Sept. 18, a suicide bomber attacked a mosque inside a police compound in Kohat, followed by an assault involving gunmen. Pakistani authorities said at least 21 people were killed and more than 100 wounded during the violence.
The following day, six Pakistani security personnel, including two army officers, were killed in a clash with militants in Hangu district near the Afghan border, according to Pakistani authorities.
Pakistan subsequently warned that it could strike militant targets inside Afghanistan if Kabul did not act against groups Islamabad says are operating from Afghan territory.
No group had publicly claimed responsibility for the Kohat and Hangu attacks by the time of the Pakistani airstrikes. Suspicion in Pakistan focused on the TTP and other militant groups operating in the border region.
Kabul warns of a response
Afghan Taliban government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid condemned the Pakistani strikes and said Afghanistan would respond.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry also summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires in Kabul and lodged a formal protest, describing the strikes as a violation of Afghan sovereignty. The Afghan government rejected Pakistan’s allegations that recent attacks inside Pakistan originated from Afghan territory.
The confrontation creates another test for relations between two countries that have long maintained close social, economic and security ties but have increasingly clashed over militant activity along their shared border.
The latest strikes also risk complicating regional efforts to ease tensions. China and other neighboring countries have been involved in efforts to mediate between Islamabad and Kabul.
For now, the central facts remain disputed on the military side: Pakistan says its strikes killed 28 militants, while Afghanistan says civilians were among those killed. The UN has independently confirmed three civilian deaths and four injuries in Kunar.
The immediate concern is whether the exchange remains limited or develops into another cycle of cross-border strikes and militant attacks.
Reporting Credit: Pakistan Ministry of Information and Broadcasting — Pakistani account of the military operation and reported militant casualties; United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan — independently confirmed civilian deaths and injuries; Afghanistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Afghan government response and diplomatic protest.
