Afghan authorities reported Friday that Pakistani attacks on Kabul and eastern border provinces killed six and injured more in the capital and two in the east, marking the latest violence in the long-running conflict.
Pakistani security officials said four “terrorist camps and support infrastructure” were destroyed in Kabul and frontier provinces, along with an oil storage facility at Kandahar airport.
Islamabad launched the operation last month, targeting terrorists in response to rising attacks within Pakistan.
The Taliban government denied any involvement or that Afghan territory is being used to harbor any militants.
Kabul police spokesman Khalil Zadran said four people were killed and 15 wounded when homes were struck in the capital, with women and children among the casualties.
His counterpart in the eastern province of Nangarhar, Sayed Tayeed Hammad, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that a woman and child were killed when a Pakistani mortar shell hit a house.
An AFP team in the Guzar area of Kabul saw one destroyed house and about a dozen others badly damaged, with collapsed roofs and walls.
There was a sizable police presence, and visibly shocked residents were in the streets, some with bandaged faces.
“Two men and two women were martyred,” Abdul Rahim Tarakil, a local representative, told AFP.
“There aren’t any military posts here. There are only ordinary people, poor people. They don’t have any involvement in politics.”
Abdul Wahid, a 29-year-old daily laborer, said he and four family members were wounded when his house was hit around 12:10 a.m. local time.
“Suddenly, a noise came from another house. I don’t know what happened afterward. All these bricks fell on me. Women and children were under the rubble as well,” he said.
“I was there for 10 minutes as if it was my last breath. Then my neighbors came and removed the bricks and took us to the clinic.”
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on X that Pakistani strikes also hit the southern province of Kandahar, as well as eastern Paktia and Paktika, which border Pakistan.
In Kandahar, home to the administration’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, airstrikes hit a fuel depot for airline Kam Air near the airport. The company supplies fuel to civilian airlines and United Nations aircraft.
In Nangarhar, a local army spokesman said anti-aircraft defenses responded to Pakistani aircraft flying overhead.
Residents reported firing from both sides near the Torkham border crossing, while a senior police officer in Kohat, northwest Pakistan, said “explosive material” was dropped from “terrorist drones,” wounding three.
The International Organization for Migration said Thursday that the border attacks “significantly damaged” its transit center in Torkham, used for Afghans deported from Pakistan.
Pakistan insists it has not killed any civilians in the conflict. Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.
Repeated clashes at the border in recent weeks have hampered trade and forced nearby residents to leave their homes.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said 56 civilians were killed in Pakistani military operations between Feb. 26 and March 5, including 24 children. About 115,000 people were displaced, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
Dozens of people were killed in fighting between the two countries in October, leading to the near-total closure of the border.
Clashes decreased after mediation, but the conflict intensified Feb. 26 when Afghanistan launched a border offensive in retaliation for earlier Pakistani airstrikes targeting the TTP.
Pakistan then declared “open war” against the Taliban authorities, bombing Kabul on Feb. 27. Authorities in Kabul said seven civilians, including four members of the same family, were killed in attacks on Tuesday and overnight Wednesday into Thursday.
