The incident came two days after a deadly attack in Kohat, where a suicide bomber targeted a mosque inside a police compound while eight gunmen stormed offices, triggering a 20-hour gunbattle.
Islamabad: Pakistan carried out airstrikes on suspected militant hideouts in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, according to Pakistani security officials, in a fresh escalation of tensions between the two neighbouring countries.
Two Pakistani security officials said 28 suspected militants were killed in the strikes. Afghanistan's Taliban government, however, said at least three civilians were killed and four others wounded.
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The claims could not be independently verified.
The strikes took place near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Kunar and Paktika provinces. Afghan deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said the attacks occurred at around 3am in Nurgal district of Kunar and Barmal district of Paktika.
According to preliminary information cited by Fitrat, a house belonging to a villager, Noor Ahmad, in Pathan village in Nurgal was destroyed. Ahmad and two members of his family were killed, while four other relatives were injured, he said.
Fitrat added that strikes in the Rakhah and Tor Kundi areas of Barmal destroyed a shop and an unoccupied house but caused no casualties.
Afghan Taliban government spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid condemned the strikes in a post on X and warned that there would be a response.
Pakistan's military did not immediately issue a statement on Monday's strikes.
The latest escalation comes after Pakistan warned that it could target militants inside Afghanistan following two deadly attacks on its security forces in recent days.
Six Pakistani security personnel, including two army officers, were killed in a gunfight with militants in Hangu district of north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday.
The incident came two days after a deadly attack in Kohat, where a suicide bomber targeted a mosque inside a police compound while eight gunmen stormed offices, triggering a 20-hour gunbattle. At least 21 people, mostly police officers, were killed and more than 100 were wounded, according to Pakistani officials.
Pakistan's Information Ministry on Saturday said the country had the “will and capability” to eliminate terrorist threats wherever they were. It blamed the Kohat attack on militants allegedly based in Afghanistan and accused the Taliban government in Kabul of sheltering and supporting groups responsible for attacks in Pakistan.
The ministry called on Kabul to take “credible, verifiable and sustained measures” to dismantle what Pakistan described as militant sanctuaries, recruitment networks and training facilities in Afghanistan.
No group had claimed responsibility for either the Kohat or Hangu attacks by the time of Monday's airstrikes.
Suspicion has fallen on the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, which has stepped up attacks against police and security forces in Pakistan in recent years.
The TTP is separate from, but allied with, Afghanistan's Taliban government, which returned to power in 2021. Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Taliban government of sheltering TTP leaders and allowing militants to launch attacks from Afghan territory. Kabul has denied the allegations.
(AP)
Published: 21 Sept 2026, 11:30 am IST
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