Pakistani airstrikes have killed 46 civilians in eastern Afghanistan, the Taliban-led government in Kabul said, while Islamabad claimed it had targeted suspected militant hideouts in border areas.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Radio Free Europe that there are many women and children among the victims. The attacks were carried out on December 24 in four locations in Barmal district of Paktika province.
There is still no comment from Pakistani authorities on the attacks inside Afghanistan.
However, Pakistan's military said security forces killed 13 insurgents in an overnight operation in South Waziristan, a Pakistani province bordering Paktika province.
Radio Free Europe has not been able to independently confirm these claims.
The attacks are likely to further increase tensions between the two neighboring states.
Pakistan said militants from the Islamist group Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are hiding along the border in Afghanistan, and Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Afghan Taliban to act against them. But the Afghan Taliban say that TTP militants are in Pakistan.
The latest Pakistani airstrikes come days after TTP militants carried out an attack near the northwestern border with Afghanistan, killing 16 security officials and wounding eight others.
The attack occurred when militants opened fire at a checkpoint in South Waziristan in the early hours of December 21.
The TTP, which seeks to impose Sharia Law in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack and claimed to have killed 35 Pakistani security officials. Radio Free Europe has not been able to independently confirm the number of victims. Neither side has indicated how many militants were killed during the attack.
There has been a steady increase in TTP attacks in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in August 2021. /REL (A2 Televizion)
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