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- Three children killed, several injured in strikes on home in Afghanistan’s Khost province, government says
- Last year, Kabul said at least 46 were killed when Pakistani military aircraft struck Paktika province
KABUL: Afghan officials said Pakistani drones struck homes in Nangarhar and Khost provinces late on Wednesday, killing three people and wounding seven, prompting the Taliban government to summon Pakistan’s ambassador in Kabul on Thursday in protest.
Last year, Kabul said bombardment by Pakistani military aircraft in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province had killed at least 46 people. Islamabad has never confirmed or denied the strikes.
In Khost’s Spera district, a southeastern border region adjacent to Pakistan’s North Waziristan, three children were killed and several others wounded when drones hit the home of Hajji Naeem Khan late on Wednesday, the province’s media chief said.
In Nangarhar’s Shinwar district, near Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan, a spokesman said four sons and two wives of a man named Shahsawar were among those injured when his house was destroyed.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry and Pakistan’s military media wing did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained in recent years, with Islamabad accusing militants sheltering across the border of staging attacks inside Pakistan, while Kabul denies giving safe haven.
The strikes in Nangarhar and Khost provinces came barely a week after Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar joined his Chinese and Afghan counterparts in Kabul for a trilateral dialogue at which the three countries pledged to step up counter-terrorism cooperation, expand trade and extend the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan.
The Taliban foreign ministry said in a statement that it “strongly condemns the violation of Afghanistan’s airspace and the bombing of civilians … such irresponsible actions will inevitably have consequences.”
It said Pakistan’s ambassador, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani, was handed a protest note during the meeting in Kabul.
Nizamani survived an attack on Pakistan’s embassy compound in Kabul in 2022 but has remained Islamabad’s top envoy despite repeated strains in ties.