At lease 10 people died as Pakistan violated ceasefire and launched air strikes inside Afghanistan late Friday, AFP reported quoting officials.
This came two days after Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to a truce followed by a near-week-long bloody clashes at the border that killed scores of military personnel as well as civilians near the border.
“Pakistan has broken the ceasefire and bombed three locations in Paktika (province),” a senior Taliban official was quoted as saying by the news agency.
He vowed that “Afghanistan will retaliate”.
Two children among 10 dead
A provincial hospital official in Afghanistan said that 10 civilians were dead and 12 others were injured in the fresh Pakistani air strikes on the country.
There were two children among those who died, he told AFP, as the Pakistan-Afghanistan war took a fresh turn.
Three cricketers dead
Three Afghan players who were in the Paktika region for a tournament got killed in the Pakistani air strikes, the Afghanistan Cricket Board was quoted as saying by AFP.
The cricket board further said it was pulling out from the Tri-Nation T20I Series where Pakistan would play, scheduled to begin next month.’
What did Pakistan say?
A senior security official in Pakistan confirmed the attacks on Afghanistan to AFP, saying that forces had “conducted precision aerial strikes” in the Afghan border.
The official added that the strikes were launched to target Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, a local faction linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — the Pakistani Taliban.
Islamabad accused the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group of being responsible in suicide bombing and gun attack at a military camp in the North Waziristan district that left seven Pakistani soldiers dead. The North Waziristan district is located in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Pakistan-Afghanistan war
The Pakistan-Afghanistan war had escalated on last Saturday, days after explosions rocked the Afghan capital Kabul.
Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of harbouring terrorists and terror groups led by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — the Pakistani Taliban — on its soil.
Afghanistan has repeatedly denied the claim.
Following the attacks last Saturday, Afghanistan launched its own strikes on Pakistan, prompting Islamabad to vow for strong action.
When the truce began at 1300 GMT on Wednesday, Islamabad said that it was to last 48 hours, but Kabul said the ceasefire would remain in effect until Pakistan violated it.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused Kabul of acting as “a proxy of India” and “plotting” against Pakistan.
“From now on, demarches will no longer be framed as appeals for peace, and delegations will not be sent to Kabul,” Asif wrote in a post on X.
“Wherever the source of terrorism is, it will have to pay a heavy price,” Asif said.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said its forces had been ordered not to attack unless Pakistani forces fired first.
“If they do, then you have every right to defend your country’, he said in an interview with the Afghan television channel Ariana, relaying the message sent to the troops.
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