ISLAMABAD — Pakistani security sources said several Afghan members of the Taliban were killed in an intermittent exchange of fire in the Gulistan area of the border on Friday and that fighting was ongoing.The Afghan government said a wave of Pakistani air strikes had killed four civilians in the latest escalation between the two sides.The strikes hit provinces including Kandahar, the Taliban’s base of power, sources said. A resident told AFP news agency they heard a jet, followed by a large explosion and then a fire in the city.Pakistan said its forces had struck 10 targets in Afghanistan on Thursday, without specifying their locations, adding the strikes were “strictly limited to identified military objectives”.The strikes were in response to a “deliberate and unlawful incursion into Pakistan by drones” on Wednesday, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Thursday.Tarar said in a post on his X account that Pakistan’s aerial and drone attacks hit “terrorist hideouts and support infrastructure including drone launching and storage sites”.He also posted a video said to show the military strikes on the Afghan sites.The Taliban government said that it would deliver an “appropriate response” to Pakistani air attacks in Afghanistan earlier in the day.Afghanistan’s government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the air strikes targeted Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces.Taliban officials denied that their government launched drones against Pakistan on Wednesday.The air raids on Thursday were carried out amid growing tensions between the former allies over attacks by armed groups in Pakistan, which triggered their worst fighting in years in February.Islamabad accuses Kabul of harboring fighters who stage cross-border attacks, but Afghanistan’s government denies hosting anti-Pakistani armed groups and says the attacks are Pakistan’s internal problem.The escalation threatens mediation efforts by China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to broker a lasting peace between the two neighbors.ISLAMABAD — Pakistani security sources said several Afghan members of the Taliban were killed in an intermittent exchange of fire in the Gulistan area of the border on Friday and that fighting was ongoing.The Afghan government said a wave of Pakistani air strikes had killed four civilians in the latest escalation between the two sides.The strikes hit provinces including Kandahar, the Taliban’s base of power, sources said. A resident told AFP news agency they heard a jet, followed by a large explosion and then a fire in the city.Pakistan said its forces had struck 10 targets in Afghanistan on Thursday, without specifying their locations, adding the strikes were “strictly limited to identified military objectives”.The strikes were in response to a “deliberate and unlawful incursion into Pakistan by drones” on Wednesday, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Thursday.Tarar said in a post on his X account that Pakistan’s aerial and drone attacks hit “terrorist hideouts and support infrastructure including drone launching and storage sites”.He also posted a video said to show the military strikes on the Afghan sites.The Taliban government said that it would deliver an “appropriate response” to Pakistani air attacks in Afghanistan earlier in the day.Afghanistan’s government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the air strikes targeted Kandahar, Paktia and Khost provinces.Taliban officials denied that their government launched drones against Pakistan on Wednesday.The air raids on Thursday were carried out amid growing tensions between the former allies over attacks by armed groups in Pakistan, which triggered their worst fighting in years in February.Islamabad accuses Kabul of harboring fighters who stage cross-border attacks, but Afghanistan’s government denies hosting anti-Pakistani armed groups and says the attacks are Pakistan’s internal problem.The escalation threatens mediation efforts by China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to broker a lasting peace between the two neighbors.
Pakistani forces kill Taliban fighters in ongoing border escalation
