In brief
The Taliban have fired drone strikes along the Afghan‑Pakistan border, injuring several people in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Pakistan shot down four rudimentary drones and warned of a fit response. Earlier, Pakistan had launched airstrikes that killed 28 civilians in Afghanistan. The cross‑border hostilities have reignited after a ceasefire, costing dozens more lives.
Afghan Taliban launch strikes on border with Pakistan as tensions escalite
Afghan Taliban say they carried out drone strikes along the border, injuring several in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
Pakistan’s military reported it shot down four rudimentary drones and warned that further provocation would receive a befitting response. The BBC has not independently confirmed the attacks.
The strikes followed Pakistan’s own airstrikes on Afghanistan on Sunday, which the UN reports caused 28 civilian deaths. Tensions have reignited after a ceasefire agreed in October, following months of deadly clashes.
Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of harbaking terrorists who launch attacks on its soil, an allegation the Taliban reject. Kabul, in turn, accuses Islamabad of launching unprovoked attacks that kill civilians, though Pakistan insists it targets militants only.
Afghanistan said the Pakistani attack on Sunday hit civilian homes, raising the death toll to 36 and leaving over 160 injured. It described the attack as a "cowardly act" and an "atrocity."
Pakistan said it conducted a ground operation on the border and targeted militant hideouts in the Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika and Kunar. Information minister Attaullah Tarar announced that 29 militants were killed in the operation.
The BBC has not confirmed the figures from either side. Intermittent border clashes and air strikes have killed dozens in recent months, according to officials in both countries. In February, clashes left many dead; in March a Pakistani strike on a Kabul drug rehabilitation centre killed hundreds.
Earlier in June, Pakistan launched deadly air strikes that killed 26 militants, with the Taliban reporting that 13 people, most of them children, also died.
