Protesters take part in protest against Pakistani air strikes in Khost
Kabul:
The Taliban government warned Pakistan on Saturday after five children and a woman were killed in Afghanistan in rocket attacks attributed to the Pakistani military in a pre-dawn strike along the border.
Border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have increased since the Taliban took power last year, during which Islamabad claimed militant groups carried out attacks from Afghan soil.
The Taliban denies harboring Pakistani militants, but is also angered by the fence Islamabad is erecting along its 2,700-kilometer (1,600-mile) border, known as the Durand line, drawn in colonial times.
An Afghan government official and a resident in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province bordering Pakistan said Pakistani forces fired rockets early Saturday morning, killing six people.
“Five children and one woman were killed and one man injured in Pakistani missile attacks in the Shelton district of Kunar,” provincial information director Najibullah Hassan Abdaal told AFP.
Ehsanullah, a resident of Shelton district who goes by a name like many Afghans, said the attack was carried out by Pakistani military aircraft.
Another Afghan government official said a similar pre-dawn attack was carried out in Afghanistan’s Khost province near the border.
“Pakistani helicopters bombarded four villages near the Durand line in Khost province.
He added: “Only civilian homes were targeted and there were casualties.
The Taliban government of Afghanistan warned Islamabad after the attacks.
Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters in an audio message: “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan condemns with the strongest possible terms the bombardment and attack that took place from the Pakistani side. on the land of Afghanistan.
“We are using all options to prevent a repeat (such attacks) and call for our sovereignty to be respected.
The Pakistani side should know that if a war starts it will not benefit either side. It will cause instability in the region. “
‘Military Violation’
Pakistani military officials were not immediately available for comment.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi also filed a protest with the Pakistani ambassador in Kabul against what he said were “military violations” by Pakistan.
TOLO News, Afghanistan’s leading private television channel, showed footage of homes destroyed in the Khost attack.
Rasool Jan, a resident of Khost, told the channel: “All those targeted are innocent civilians, with nothing to do with the Taliban or the government.”
“We don’t know who our enemies are and why we are being targeted.”
Hundreds of Khost civilians poured into the streets chanting anti-Pakistani slogans late Saturday, photos obtained by AFP showed.
The border areas between the two countries have long been strongholds for militant groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which operate across the porous border with Afghanistan.
The Afghan Taliban and the TTP are separate groups in both countries, but share the same ideology and draw from people living on either side of the border.
Thousands of people cross the border daily, including traders, Afghans seeking medical treatment in Pakistan and those visiting relatives.
Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, the TTP has become a cheerleader and conducts regular attacks against Pakistani forces.
In February, six Pakistani soldiers were killed in a TTP shooting from Afghanistan.
Last month, the TTP announced it would launch an offensive against Pakistani security forces from the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The TTP is pressuring Pakistani authorities to allow militants to return to their homeland with impunity after foreign fighters were asked by the Taliban to leave Afghanistan.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from the syndication feed.)
