Pakistani strikes kill Afghan civilians as tensions rise

Pakistani ground operations and cross-border strikes killed at least 36 civilians in Afghanistan and wounded more than 160 others, Afghan officials said Monday, sharply escalating tensions after Pakistan blamed Afghanistan-based militants for a deadly attack in Karachi.

Pakistan said its forces acted after militants attacked the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Sindh Rangers in Karachi over the weekend, killing three personnel and wounding four. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the assault.

Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on X that security forces struck militant hideouts and safe havens in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces. NPR reported that Tarar said the strikes and a ground operation killed 29 fighters; Al Jazeera reported that he said 25 fighters were killed in the strikes, with several Jamaat-ul-Ahrar members also killed in a separate ground operation in Bajaur in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Tarar said weapons and ammunition stockpiles were destroyed.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government condemned the strikes as a “cowardly act of aggression” and an “act of brutality.” Hayatullah Mohajer Farahi, deputy minister for publications at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Information and Culture, said Afghanistan would respond “in due time.”

Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesperson for the Taliban government, said Pakistani forces first targeted a home in Paktia’s Chamkani district, killing an older man and a child and wounding other family members. When residents gathered to help, the area was struck again, killing 28 villagers and wounding 158, he said. Fitrat said six people, mostly women and children, were killed when another home was hit in Paktika’s Giyan district. A civilian home in Kunar province was also struck, causing no casualties but killing about 30 livestock, he said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted images of wounded children and accused Pakistan of striking residential areas, Al Jazeera reported. The outlet said neither side’s claims could be independently verified.

Both countries summoned each other’s diplomats Monday. Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, accused Islamabad of repeatedly blaming Afghanistan for security incidents without “credible evidence,” saying Pakistan’s behavior “seriously harms the atmosphere of trust between the two countries, good neighborly relations and the security and stability of the region.”

Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Tahir Andrabi said Afghanistan’s top diplomat in Islamabad was issued a formal diplomatic protest. “Afghan soil and Afghan nationals continue to be used to orchestrate terrorist attacks inside Pakistan,” Andrabi said.

Pakistani officials said one attacker in the Karachi raid was captured alive and identified him as an Afghan national. NPR reported that police later released a statement from the wounded detainee saying the attack was planned by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, though it was unclear whether the confession was made under duress. Al Jazeera reported that investigators identified him as Usman Ali from Jalalabad in Nangarhar province and said he told authorities the attackers entered Pakistan seven days before the assault.

The violence follows months of cross-border clashes and failed diplomacy. Pakistan has blamed the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, and allied groups for a surge in attacks on police and security forces. The TTP is separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in 2021.

Pakistan has also accused India of backing militants, using the term “Khawarij” to refer to what it calls Indian-backed Pakistani Taliban and other fighters. India denied involvement, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal calling the claims “baseless allegations” and saying Pakistan should “look inwards” and act against militant infrastructure on its own territory.

According to the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, attacks in Pakistan rose 34 percent in 2025, with 699 incidents that killed at least 1,034 people and wounded 1,366. More than 95 percent were concentrated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, Al Jazeera reported.