Pakistan says 28 dead in cross-border airstrikes on Afghan border region

• Afghan Taliban reported airstrikes hit civilian structures in Kunar and Paktika, destroying a home and killing three family members while injuring four others.

Pakistani security forces executed cross-border airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan along with ground operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with Islamabad claiming precision strikes against militant facilities while Taliban authorities in Kabul reported civilian casualties.

According to an official statement issued on X by Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, security forces conducted "selective targeting of Terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Fitna al khwarij and its affiliates" in the Afghan border region.

Islamabad stated that the aerial operation destroyed three targeted facilities - including a "Suicide Bombers training markaz", killing "twenty eight terrorists along side multiple suicide bombers" and destroying stored weaponry. 

The ministry noted that the air strikes were preceded by an intelligence-based ground operation on September 20 across Kohat, Hangu, and Thal that killed nine additional operatives.

Taliban officials offered a conflicting account of the operation.

Afghan Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat posted on X that at around 3:00 AM local time, the "Pakistani occupying military regime bombarded civilian homes and public property in Nurgal District of Kunar Province and Barmal District of Paktika Province."

Fitrat reported that a home in Pathan Village "was completely destroyed in the bombing, resulting in the martyrdom of three members of the family... and injuries to four other family members," adding that "among the martyrs and injured are two children and two women." 

He noted that additional strikes in Paktika destroyed "one shop and one unoccupied house, with no casualties reported."

Chief Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the operation as a breach of sovereignty, warning that Afghanistan would respond appropriately.

The military actions follow a major security breach on September 18 at a police headquarters complex in Kohat, northwestern Pakistan. 

The attack, which involved a suicide car bombing followed by a prolonged 20-hour gun battle, left 31 people dead, including 16 police officers.

Cross-border friction between the neighbors has intensified since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. 

Pakistani authorities accuse Kabul of harboring anti-Pakistan groups, primarily the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP, designated locally as Fitna Al Khawarij), while the Taliban government maintains that militancy in Pakistan is a domestic security concern.