Pakistani strikes kill 36, wound 163 in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD/KABUL, June 29 (Agencies): Pakistani strikes in three eastern provinces of Afghanistan killed 36 civilians and wounded 163, the Taliban government's deputy spokesman said on Monday.

"The attacks carried out last night resulted in the martyrdom of 36 civilians, including women and children, while 163 others sustained injuries," Hamdullah Fitrat posted on his X account.

Pakistani security forces Sunday carried out a ground operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, followed by "calibrated strikes" against militant hideouts and safe havens, officials said.

In a post on X, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation was launched in response to multiple militant attacks across the country. There was no immediate response from Afghanistan.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks targeting police and security forces in recent years. Authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and allied militant groups for most of the violence.

It comes a day after militants armed with guns and explosives targeted the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Rangers in the southern port city of Karachi, killing three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested another assailant, whom the military identified as an Afghan national in wounded condition.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack in a statement Saturday night.

Tarar said Pakistan's latest operation along the Afghan border targeted hideouts and safe havens of the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban are a separate militant group from the Afghan Taliban, although the two are allies. The Afghan Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

The latest operations are likely to further strain already tense relations between Islamabad and Kabul.