KABUL — The Afghan Air Force carried out airstrikes inside Pakistan, targeting what it described as ISIS centers along the border used to plan and coordinate terrorist attacks against civilians in Afghanistan.
The strikes reportedly hit locations in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, the Taliban’s Defense Ministry said.
The ministry said the operation was carried out with precision, killing several ISIS fighters and causing significant material damage without any civilian casualties.
Pakistan’s military said it had shot down four rudimentary drones and warned any further provocation “would receive a befitting response”.
The operation came two days after Pakistan launched a series of airstrikes along its border with Afghanistan on Sunday. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), at least 28 civilians were killed, and 49 others were injured in the Pakistani strikes.
Tensions have reignited in the region after months of relative calm. The two countries had agreed to a ceasefire in October following weeks of deadly clashes.
Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of harboring terrorists who carry out attacks on its soil, a claim the Taliban government rejects.
Kabul in turn has accused Islamabad of carrying out unprovoked attacks which kill civilians. Pakistan says it only targets militants.
Afghanistan said Pakistan’s attack on Sunday hit civilian homes and put the civilian death toll at 36, with more than 160 injured.
It described the attack as a “cowardly act” and an “atrocity”.
Pakistan said it had carried out a ground operation along the border and air strikes targeting militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces.
The country’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said 29 militants had been killed in an operation responding to “recent terrorist attacks against innocent people”.
Intermittent border clashes and air strikes in the area have killed dozens of people in recent months, according to officials in both countries.
Source: Saudi Gazette