Afghanistan says three killed in Pakistani air attacks

Afghan officials reported that Pakistani air attacks struck parts of northeastern Afghanistan on Monday, killing three people and wounding four. Kunar provincial spokesperson Farid Dehqan told Al Jazeera the strike hit the Nurgal district at about 4:00am local time (23:30 GMT Sunday). Photographs published by news agencies showed a destroyed house in Patan village.

Taliban deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said on X that at least one house in Kunar province was hit and that the three killed belonged to the same family; he also reported four people were injured. Fitrat added that separate bombardments struck two locations in the Barmal district of Paktika province, destroying a shop and an unoccupied house with no reported casualties.

There was no immediate response from Pakistani authorities to the allegations. The incident comes amid a period of heightened tensions between the two neighbours: relations have been strained since heavy clashes in February, and Islamabad has accused Afghan territory of harbouring armed groups that carry out attacks in Pakistan — a charge denied by Afghanistan’s Taliban government.

The reported raids follow a recent deadly attack in Pakistan. A faction of the Pakistani Taliban said it bombed a mosque at a police facility in Kohat, northwestern Pakistan; Pakistani officials said the blast and ensuing gun battle killed at least 21 people, mostly police officers. Pakistan’s Ministry of Information warned over the weekend that the country could target fighters inside Afghanistan in response to attacks on Pakistani soil.