Islamabad/Kabul, Nov 25, (dpa/GNA) — Afghanistan on Tuesday condemned overnight Pakistani airstrikes, that officials said killed at least 10 civilians, mostly children, warning that it would deliver a “necessary response” to what it called a violation of its territorial integrity.
“The airstrikes carried out last night by Pakistani forces in Afghanistan’s Paktika, Khost and Kunar provinces, constitute a direct assault on Afghanistan’s sovereignty and a clear breach of internationally recognized norms and principles by the Pakistani authorities,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.
Mujahid said defending Afghanistan’s airspace, territory and citizens was its legitimate right and that a response would be taken “at the proper time.”
According to Afghan media reports citing officials, the Pakistani attacks targeted a civilian house in Khost province, killing nine children and a woman; an empty vehicle in Paktika province, where a nearby place of worship was also damaged; and a house in Kunar province.
The latest strikes threaten a fragile ceasefire between the neighbouring countries, which was brokered by Qatar and Turkey last month, after their deadliest border clashes in decades.
Observers noted it was the second time Pakistan has conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan, while an Afghan ministerial delegation is visiting India, Pakistan’s historical rival.
Pakistani intelligence sources said the strikes, targeted the hideouts of militants, accused of being behind two recent suicide bombings, including one in Islamabad last week.
The strikes followed an attack on Monday, in which three suicide bombers attempted to storm the headquarters of a paramilitary force in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing three soldiers before being shot dead.
Pakistan’s defence minister warned last month that Islamabad would launch cross-border airstrikes, if any attacks were traced to Afghan soil.
Both Afghanistan and Pakistan accuse each other of harbouring or supporting insurgent groups, active along the Durand Line, the border between the countries that Afghanistan does not formally recognize.
GNA