Pakistan’s airstrikes in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province have resulted in 46 deaths, mostly women and children, according to a statement from the Taliban government on Wednesday.
Image courtesy : NDTV.com
Since Tuesday, Pakistan has carried out aerial strikes targeting the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktika province, and killing 46 people, most of whom are women and children, said the Taliban on Wednesday.
Pakistan invaded four regions in Barmal district last night confirmed Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid. The death toll is 46 and they are mostly women and children to boot out. He also said that six other persons including the children were injured in the attack.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Defence deplored the attacks in a statement and stressed that they are barbaric and a clear sight of aggression. The statement pointed out that the Taliban has sovereignty rights over its territory and any attempts to do so will not be left without a reprisal.
Barmal district people narrated potential impact of the airstrikes. A local named Maleel said he saw that 18 people out of a family were kille as a house was hit. “The whole of the family perished,” he said they said. And there is the third house – a rocket hit it, three people died, and several others were injured and taken to the hospital.
Conflicts on Afghanistan and Pakistan borders have been rising since Taliban arrived into power early this year, 2021. Afghan taliban on one side Pakistan has accused of providing sanctuaries to the militant groups that stage cross border attacks in to Pakistan while Kabul denies it.
The airstrikes occur only days after the Pakistani Taliban or TTP claimed responsibility for an attack on a Pakistani military post close to the Afghan border, said to have killed 16 soldiers. The TTP has a similar hue with Afghanistan’s Talibans to exacerbate relations between the two neighboring countries.
Up to the time of writing this piece, Pakistani authorities have not reacted to the recent airstrikes. At the same time, the representatives of the higher echelon of the Taliban were had a meeting with a special envoy of Pakistan in Kabul on the same day the strikes were launched which serves as additional information stirring up tension around the case.
Such striking maneuvers have not elicited applause before now either. In March, Pakistan in similar vein launched an attack on Afghanistan’s border areas that left eight civilians dead and sparked fighting along the line. They continue to point fingers at each other and also use force and take the civilians as their targets.