Afghanistan says Pakistani airstrikes in east of country killed 10 people, mostly children

Afghanistan's Taliban government on Tuesday accused Pakistan of launching overnight airstrikes in three eastern provinces, killing 10 civilians, including nine children, in a sign of worsening tensions between the two neighbours.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesperson for the Afghan government, said on X that Pakistan “bombed” the home of a civilian in Khost province, killing nine children and a woman. He said additional strikes were carried out in the provinces of Kunar and Paktika, injuring four others.

Pakistan's military and government did not immediately comment on the allegation, which comes more than a month after cross-border clashes erupted when the Afghan government claimed Pakistani drone strikes hit Kabul.

The latest escalation follows a deadly attack a day earlier in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar, where two suicide bombers and a gunman stormed the headquarters of the Federal Constabulary. Three officers were killed, and 11 others were wounded in the Monday morning attack.

No group has claimed responsibility for the Peshawar attack, but suspicion quickly fell on the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

It is a separate group but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, and many of its leaders are hiding in Afghanistan.

Pakistan has repeatedly urged Afghanistan's Taliban rulers to prevent TTP militants from using Afghan territory to launch attacks. Kabul denies the accusation, but relations further deteriorated after Afghanistan blamed Pakistan for the October 9 drone strikes on its capital and threatened retaliation.

The clashes that followed killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and militants before Qatar brokered a ceasefire on October 19.

Two subsequent rounds of talks in Istanbul failed to resolve the dispute, when Pakistan said Afghanistan had refused to provide a written guarantee that TTP fighters would not operate from Afghan soil.

The Afghan government, in recent years, has said that it does not allow anyone to its soil for attacks against any country, including Pakistan.