Bloody escalation on the front line.. Pakistani airstrikes cause dozens of casualties near the Afghan border

Pakistan announced on Sunday that it carried out airstrikes targeting armed groups on the border with Afghanistan, resulting in dozens of casualties and injuries, including children, in the most intense escalation between the two countries in months.

Response to suicide attacks

According to what was reported by the French Press Agency, the operations come in response to a series of suicide attacks that have recently occurred in Pakistan, including an explosion targeting a mosque in the capital Islamabad in early February.
The Pakistani Ministry of Information stated that the strikes were carried out based on accurate intelligence information, targeting 7 camps and hideouts belonging to the Pakistani Taliban, in addition to a site linked to an ISIS affiliate.

Kabul: The victims are civilians

In contrast, the Afghan Ministry of Defense announced that the airstrikes hit a religious school and civilian homes in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, resulting in the death and injury of dozens of civilians, including women and children.
A reporter from “France Press” in the Behsood area reported that residents of the mountainous villages rushed to participate in rescue operations, using primitive equipment to retrieve victims from under the rubble.

Witnesses from the bombing site

Amin Gul Amin (37 years old), a resident of the area, said: “The people here are ordinary civilians, the villagers are our relatives. When the bombing occurred, one of the survivors was screaming for help.”
For its part, the Nangarhar police confirmed that the bombing began around midnight and targeted three districts, noting that there were casualties and injuries, while the police spokesman, Syed Tayeb Hamad, explained that one of the houses contained 23 members of one family, and five injured were extracted from it.

Explosive tension

This escalation represents the most dangerous direct confrontation between Islamabad and Kabul since the clashes last October, and brings back to the forefront the fragility of the security situation along the shared border, amidst mutual accusations of harboring armed groups and conducting cross-border operations.