Death toll in Pakistani airstrikes in Afghan province rises to 47
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Pakistani military helicopters have been air-striking Afghanistan, destroying residential areas.
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Pakistan Army troops patrol along the fence on the Pakistan Afghanistan border at Big Ben hilltop post in Khyber district. (AP)
Pakistani military airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, in the provinces of Khost and Kunar, have reached at least 47, according to officials on Sunday.
Pakistan has been urging Afghanistan to act against militants launching attacks from Afghan land.
Since the Taliban took over the government in Afghanistan, tensions between Kabul and Islamabad have been on the rise as Pakistan has been complaining that militant groups on the Afghan side have been carrying out terror attacks.
On the Afghan side, the Taliban have denied fostering Pakistani militants. However, they have also been infuriated that Pakistan has been putting up a fence on the 2,7000-kilometer border.
On Saturday, an air assault just before dawn happened when Afghan officials said the assault was carried out from Pakistani helicopters. The airstrikes, which were carried out by military helicopters, destroyed residential houses in Khost and Kunar on the border, according to Afghan officials.
More than 40 innocent Afghan civilians including women and children were killed in Khost and Kunar as a result of airstrikes by the Pakistan Air Force in Afghanistan.
— Local Bane (@Local_Bane) April 17, 2022
Pakistani armed forces are the epitome of Terrorism.#PakistaniArmyWarCrimespic.twitter.com/r0RKiqPEXt
"Forty-one civilians, mainly women and children, were killed and 22 others were wounded in airstrikes by Pakistani forces near the Durand line in Khost province," Shabir Ahmad Osmani, director of information and culture in Khost told AFP.
An official in the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Khost, Najibullah, said the death toll increased to 48 in the province.
"Twenty-four people were killed from one family itself," he told AFP.
A tribal leader from the province, Jamshid, said the death toll was over 40; "I went yesterday with several people to donate blood for treating the wounded in Khost strike," he said.
Yesterday, at least five children and a woman were killed in an eastern Afghan province when Pakistani military forces fired rockets along the border in a pre-dawn attack on Saturday, an official and a resident said.
The TOLOnews channel quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the Pakistani raids targeted the Shilton areas in Kunar and Sbiri in Khost.
Read more: Pakistani military official urges to keep army out of political disputes
The Taliban have stressed that Afghanistan was not harboring Pakistani militants, though there are tensions between Kabul and Islamabad over the latter erecting a fence along their border, known as the Durand line and drawn up in colonial times when the United Kingdom had the region colonized.
"Five children and a woman were killed, and a man was wounded in Pakistani rocket attacks in Shilton district of Kunar," provincial director of information Najibullah Hassan Abdaal had told AFP yesterday.
Ehsanullah, a resident of Shilton district, said Pakistani military aircraft carried out the assault and confirmed the death toll.
According to another Afghan government official, a similar attack took place in Afghanistan's Kost province.
"Pakistani helicopters bombarded four villages near the Durand line in Khost province," he said on condition of anonymity while asserting that only civilian houses were targeted and there were no casualties.
Hundreds of civilians in Khost took to the streets to protest against Pakistan chanting against and denouncing Islamabad.
![In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had "engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)](https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2024/12/21/b4a69f2e-8682-43e4-9d37-49482b304ab3/3.png?v=2&format=webp "In a 2021 interview with Frontline by former US special representative James Jeffrey, he says he had \"engaged with [HTS] via backchannels while serving in President Trump’s State Department. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)")
