Pakistani air strikes kill six, wound 12: Afghanistan

KABUL, Mar 13 (Reuters): Pakistan bombed the fuel depot of private airline Kam Air near Afghanistan's airport of Kandahar, the ruling Taliban said on Friday, stepping up the neighbours' worst conflict in years, despite China's efforts to mediate.
The overnight strikes also hit residential areas in Kabul and the eastern province of Nangarhar, killing six people, including children, and wounding more than a dozen, the Taliban said.
"When we woke up, dust was everywhere, the windows were broken, and we could hear nothing," said Murselin, 35, who lives in district 21 on the outskirts of the capital, amid bricks littering sandy streets and homes with blown-out walls.
"A few minutes later, I heard the voices of my children, they were extremely scared and screaming," Murselin, who lives with his wife and five children, told Reuters.
His sister and two of her children were also wounded in the attack, he added.
Government spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid vowed that the aggression would "not go unanswered".
The strikes on the depot, which Mujahid said "supplies fuel to civilian airlines as well as to United Nations aircraft", threaten to spark further hostilities in a region also affected by the US-Israeli war on Iran.
No Pakistani airstrikes had been reported in the past week after Beijing boosted mediation efforts, including messages from President Xi Jinping to halt the fighting.
Ground clashes along the 2,600-km (1,600-mile) border had also tapered off, despite some intermittent fighting.
The fighting erupted last month with Pakistani air strikes in Afghanistan that Islamabad said targeted militant strongholds. Afghanistan called the strikes a violation of sovereignty, however, as it launched retaliatory attacks.
Pakistani security sources said the latest strikes targeted four militant hideouts in Kabul, Kandahar and southeastern Paktia province, with one targeting an oil storage facility at the Kandahar airfield.
Afghanistan's defence ministry said it responded by launching drone strikes on a Pakistani military base in the northern city of Kohat, causing heavy damage.
Pakistan's military and information ministry did not respond to a request for comment.