Forty-six persons, mostly women and children, were killed in airstrikes launched by Pakistan on Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province on Tuesday, Reuters reported quoting a spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban.
Six persons were also injured. The Afghan Taliban has vowed retaliation, according to the news agency.
“Afghanistan considers this brutal act a blatant violation of all international principles and an obvious act of aggression...The Islamic Emirate will not leave this cowardly act unanswered," Enayatullah Khowrazmi, spokesman for the country’s Ministry of National Defense, was quoted as saying.
An unidentified Pakistani official told Reuters that the strikes were targeted at a camp of the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan, which is a militant group.
Although the Pakistani Taliban pledges its allegiance to the Afghan Taliban, it is not a part of the group that is presently ruling Afghanistan, according to Reuters.
The Pakistani Taliban ended a ceasefire with their country’s government in November 2022 and has since intensified attacks on Pakistani soldiers and police, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries.
Pakistan has alleged that several of these attacks were launched from Afghanistan, a charge that the Afghan Taliban has denied.
Tuesday’s airstrikes came hours after Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, visited Kabul to discuss measures to improve bilateral trade and relations, according to AP.
During his visit, Sadiq met with Afghanistan’s acting interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, to offer condolences for the December 11 killing of Haqqani’s uncle, Khalil Haqqani.
Khalil Haqqani, the country’s minister for refugees and repatriation, was killed in a suicide bombing claimed by a regional affiliate of the Islamic State.
Sadiq also met with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to discuss bilateral cooperation.
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