A Taliban government spokesman said that at least nine children and a woman were killed in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Pakistani attacks in Afghanistan, amid escalating tensions between the two neighboring countries.
- See also: Three officers were killed in a suicide attack on the Pakistani border police
Following an unprecedented armed conflict in October, the two countries agreed to a fragile truce, but failed to finalize its terms despite several rounds of negotiations, which were halted due to security concerns.
Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on the X website: “Last night, around midnight (…) in Khost province, Pakistani forces bombed a civilian’s house (…). Nine children (five boys and four girls) and a woman were killed.”
The spokesman pointed out that there were other attacks in the border regions of Kunar and Paktika, resulting in the injury of four people.
These events also come after at least three people were killed the previous day in a suicide attack on the headquarters of Pakistani security forces in a province on the border with Afghanistan, an attack for which no group claimed responsibility.
On November 11, another attack outside a court in Islamabad killed 12 people and injured dozens. The attack was claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, which shares the same ideology as the Taliban that regained power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Pakistan then accused a “terrorist cell” of having been “directed and guided at every step by the senior leadership stationed in Afghanistan.”