Pakistan says it has killed at least 70 soldiers in strikes on the Afghan – National border
Islamabad said it had carried out strikes along the border with Afghanistan earlier Sunday, targeting what it called a hideout by Pakistani forces it blamed for recent attacks inside Pakistan. The Afghan Red Crescent Society said more than ten people had died.
Pakistan did not specify the targets, but the Afghan Ministry of Defense said in a statement that “various civilian areas” in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces in eastern Afghanistan were attacked, including a religious madrassa and several civilian homes.
The statement called the strikes a violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and sovereignty.
Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid previously told X that the attack “killed and injured dozens, including women and children.”
Mawlawi Fazl Rahman Fayyaz, provincial director of the Afghan Red Crescent Society in Nangarhar province, said 18 people were killed and many others were injured.
Clearing the debris and burying the dead
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan summoned the Pakistani ambassador in Kabul and handed him a letter of protest against the Pakistani strikes. In a statement, the Ministry said that protecting the territory of Afghanistan is a “Sharia obligation” of the Islamic Emirate and warned that Pakistan will face the consequences of this attack.
On Sunday, residents were seen clearing away debris in Nararhar following the airstrikes, while mourners were preparing for the funerals of those killed. Habib Ullah, a local elder, said that those killed in the strikes were not terrorists. “It was the poor people who suffered the most. Those who were killed were not the Taliban, or the military, or members of the former government. They lived simple rural lives,” he told the Associated Press.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar wrote on X that the army had carried out “intelligence-based, selective operations” against seven camps of the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, and its affiliates. He said that an organization affiliated with the Islamic State group was also targeted.
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Tarar said Pakistan “always strives to maintain peace and stability in the region,” but added that the safety and security of Pakistan’s citizens remains a top priority.
Pakistan blames Afghans for suicide bombings
Militant violence has escalated in Pakistan in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP and banned Baloch separatist groups. The TTP is separate from but closely allied with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Islamabad accuses the TTP of operating inside Afghanistan, a charge the group and Kabul deny.
Hours before the Pakistani strike, a suicide bomber targeted a security post in Pakistan’s northwestern Bannu district, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel. Pakistan’s military warned after the attack that it would “not hold back” and that operations against those responsible would continue.
Another suicide bomber, backed by gunmen, rammed a car full of explosives last week into the wall of a security area in Bajaur district in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bordering Afghanistan, killing 11 soldiers and a child. Pakistani authorities later said the attacker was an Afghan national.
Tarar said Pakistan has “overwhelming evidence” that recent attacks, including a suicide bombing that targeted a Shiite mosque in Islamabad and killed 31 worshipers earlier this month, were carried out by militants acting “on the orders of their Afghanistan-based leadership and commanders.”
He said that Pakistan has also urged the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan to take affirmative measures to prevent terrorist groups from using Afghan territory to attack Pakistan, but he alleged that no serious measures have been taken. Tarar also asked the international community to pressure the Taliban authorities of Afghanistan to uphold their obligations under the Doha agreement not to allow their soil to be used to fight other countries.
In Islamabad, security analyst Abdullah Khan said the strikes in Pakistan suggest that the mediation led by Qatar, Turkey and Saudi has failed to resolve the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “These strikes are likely to further the situation,” he said.
Qatar’s ceasefire between the two countries came after deadly clashes along the border in October, killing scores of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants. The violence followed an explosion in Kabul that Afghan officials blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad, at the time, carried out strikes deep into Afghanistan to target militant hideouts.
An agreement between Islamabad and Kabul has taken a lot of hold, but several talks in Istanbul in November failed to produce a formal agreement, and relations remain strained.
–Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associate Correspondents Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, contributed to this story.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
