A day after a suicide attack on a security compound in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, a Taliban government spokesman has said 10 people have been killed in Pakistan’s attacks on neighboring Afghanistan – nine of them children.
“Pakistani attacking forces bombed the house of a local civilian… As a result, nine children (five boys and four girls) and one woman were martyred in Khost province,” Zabihullah Mujahid told
Four other civilians were injured in airstrikes targeting the border areas of Kunar and Paktika, he said.
Pakistan government officials and the army have not commented on the raid.
The bombing follows a suicide attack that targeted the headquarters of Pakistan’s paramilitary Federal Constabulary Force in Peshawar, killing three officers and injuring 11 others.
No group has claimed responsibility, but state broadcaster PTV reported that the attackers were Afghan civilians and Pakistan President Asif Zardari blamed “foreign-backed Fitna al-Khawarij” – Islamabad’s term for Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, whom it accuses of operating from Afghan soil.
This month, another suicide bombing in the Pakistani capital Islamabad killed 12 people and was claimed by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, which shares the same ideology as the Afghan Taliban.
Islamabad blamed a terrorist cell which was “directed at every step by the Afghanistan-based high command” for the attack on the capital.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, and worsened after deadly border clashes in October that left nearly 70 people dead on both sides.
The fighting ended with a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey, but talks in Istanbul failed to produce a permanent settlement, with security issues, particularly Pakistan’s demand that Kabul curb TTP fighters, proving a significant issue.
Islamabad has accused the Taliban of harboring terrorists, including the TTP, behind the surge in attacks, which has waged a bloody campaign against Pakistan for years.
Kabul denies the accusation and counters that Pakistan harbors groups hostile to Afghanistan and does not respect its sovereignty.
<a href