Taliban Issues Warning Over Civilians Killed In Airstrike

Taliban Issues Warning: Five children and a woman were killed in Afghanistan in alleged rocket strikes by Pakistan in a pre-dawn assault near the border on Saturday, according to Taliban officials. In an audio message, government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said, “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan condemns in the harshest possible terms the bombardment and attack that has taken place on the country of Afghanistan from Pakistan.”

“This is a heinous act of cruelty that is paving the path for hatred between Afghanistan and Pakistan… “We are employing all available means to avoid recurrences (of such acts) and request that our sovereignty be respected,” he stated. “Pakistan should realize that if a confrontation breaks out, no one’s interests would be served.” It will devastate the region.” Later on, Saturday, hundreds of Khost residents flooded into the streets, screaming anti-Pakistan slogans.

Since the Taliban took control last year, border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have grown. Islamabad alleges that armed organizations operating out of Afghanistan are attacking Pakistan.

The Taliban denies harboring Pakistani terrorists and is enraged by the Durand line barrier that Pakistan is installing along their 2,700-kilometer (1,600-mile) border. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) expressed “grave concern” over civilian deaths as a result of airstrikes, and stated it was confirming the extent of the casualties.

“Five children and a mother were murdered and a man was wounded in Pakistani rocket assaults in Kunar’s Shelton district,” Kunar province director of information Najibullah Hassan Abdaal told AFP. The assault, said to Ehsanullah, a Shelton district native who lives by one name like many Afghans, was carried out by Pakistani military aircraft. He confirmed the number of people who had died.

A similar pre-dawn attack was carried out along the border in Afghanistan’s Khost province, according to another Afghan government official. On the condition of anonymity, he alleged that Pakistani helicopters attacked four villages along the Durand border in Khost province. “Only civilian dwellings were attacked, and there were casualties,” he continued, without providing any other information. The largest private TV channel in Afghanistan, TOLO News, broadcasts videos of houses damaged during the attack in Khost.

“All of the persons who were attacked were innocent civilians who had nothing to do with the Taliban or the government,” said Rasool Jan, a Khost local. “We don’t know who our adversary is or why we’ve been targeted out.” The Pakistani ambassador to Kabul has been asked to denounce the assaults, according to the Afghan foreign ministry.

“Such military transgressions, especially in Khost and Kunar, should be avoided,” Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi warned the Pakistani ambassador on Saturday, according to a ministry statement. “Ill-wishers and parties with ulterior interests would use these situations.”

At least seven Pakistani troops were killed in an ambush near the Afghan border on Thursday by an armed group. According to a military statement, a Pakistani military convoy was ambushed near the Afghan border in a former stronghold of the Pakistan Taliban, known as the TTP. The ambush resulted in a fierce shoot-out in which seven troops and four members of the armed organization were killed.

The ambush occurred in the Isham region of North Waziristan, a district in the dangerous northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to the statement. “The Pakistan Army is determined to eliminate the danger of terrorism,” according to the statement, “and such sacrifices by our valiant soldiers strengthen our dedication.”

No acknowledgment of guilt was made right away. Since January, 128 armed fighters have been slain in Pakistan’s border region with Afghanistan, according to the Pakistani military. During the same period, approximately 100 troops were slain in similar attacks, according to the military. Pakistan’s new Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, paid respect to the fallen soldiers, saying that Islamabad will “continue to battle terrorism.”

North Waziristan, nicknamed the “heartland of militancy” in the past, is one of Pakistan’s seven former semi-autonomous tribal districts where the army has been fighting the Pakistan Taliban since 2014.

Published By: Simran Mulani

Edit By: Khushi Thakur