Kabul vows to retaliate against Islamabad for deadly strikes

The attacks reportedly targeted suspected insurgent camps after last week’s raid in Pakistan’s Waziristan border area

The Afghan military has vowed retaliation for deadly airstrikes apparently carried out by Pakistan this week after an insurgent raid on its soil.

The air raid in the Paktika border province on Tuesday has killed 46 people, mostly women and children, a spokesman for the Taliban government in Kabul has claimed. Four sites in the district of Barmal were targeted, Hamdullah Fitrat told the media on Wednesday.

Islamabad would not immediately comment on the claims. On Tuesday, The Associated Press cited anonymous sources in the Pakistani military as confirming attacks on multiple Pakistani Taliban (TTP) hideouts in a mountainous area of Paktika. A Reuters source likewise identified the target as the Islamist militant group, which is separate from Afghanistan’s Taliban.

The Afghan Defense Ministry has claimed that the victims of the strikes were refugees from the Waziristan area of Pakistan. The statement called the incident a “barbaric act” and “clear aggression” and said Kabul “will not let this act of cowardice go unanswered.”

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The airstrikes came hours after Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, traveled to Kabul for talks with local officials. Afghanistan’s foreign ministry, which on Wednesday lodged a formal protest with Islamabad’s ambassador, contrasted the civilian diplomatic engagement with the purported actions of the Pakistani military.

Last week, the TTP killed 17 Pakistani troops in Southern Waziristan, according to local officials. The Pakistani military said on Wednesday that security forces killed 13 insurgents in the same area.