On Sunday, Pakistan killed dozens of people by launching airstrikes and deploying ground forces into Afghan regions along the border. The Taliban administration has denounced it as a “cowardly act” and “a crime and atrocity” and claims that at least 36 civilians, including women and children, have died and over 160 others have been injured.
The strikes were a reaction to “recent terrorist attacks against innocent people,” according to Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, who also stated that 29 militants were killed in attacks on their hideouts. The Taliban administration disputes Pakistan’s long-standing accusations that Afghanistan harbors terrorist organizations that conduct cross-border assaults.
After weeks of deadly fighting, the two nations agreed to a truce in October of last year. However, that ceasefire has now collapsed, just like previous internationally mediated truce agreements. The number of casualties reported by the Taliban and Pakistani governments in the most recent strikes could not been independently verified.
While Pakistan claims the strikes were directed against militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika, and Kunar provinces, the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan claims the attacks struck civilian residences. According to Taliban officials, the most of the casualties occurred in the village of Mandokhail in the province of Paktika.
These strikes are a response by the Pakistani Government against the killing of paramilitary operatives in Karachi. According to Pakistan’s military, three members of the Sindh Rangers, a paramilitary group, were slain at their Karachi headquarters the day before Sunday’s strikes. The suicide bombing also claimed the lives of three militants, and according to Pakistani officials, a fourth militant, an Afghan national had been taken into custody.
Due to their involvement in previous attacks, the United Nations and Pakistan have banned both Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and the TTP, also known as the Pakistan Taliban. Officials in both nations claim that dozens of people have died in recent months as a result of sporadic border clashes and airstrikes.
Numerous people were killed in battles between the two nations in February. Hundreds were killed in a Pakistani attack on a drug treatment facility in Kabul in March. 26 militants were killed by Pakistan’s lethal airstrikes earlier in June. Thirteen individuals, primarily children, were also killed in the strikes, according to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
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