Pakistani airstrikes kill 36 civilians in Afghanistan and wound 160,
officials say
[June 29, 2026]
By ABDUL QAHAR AFGHAN and SUZAN FRASER
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Overnight ground operations and strikes by
Pakistani forces have killed at least 36 civilians and injured more than
160 others, Afghan officials said Monday, as tensions between the
neighbors further escalated. One Afghan official said the attacks would
be met with retaliation.
Pakistani security forces carried out a ground operation along the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border late Sunday, followed by strikes against
militant hideouts and safe havens, killing 29 fighters, Pakistan's
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said. Pakistan said the operations
were launched in response to multiple militant attacks across Pakistan.
Afghanistan condemned the strikes as a “cowardly act of aggression” and
an “act of brutality.” Hayatullah Mohajer Farahi, the deputy minister
for publications at the Ministry of Information and Culture, said
Afghanistan would respond “in due time.”
“The military regime in a cowardly manner bombed Paktia, Paktika, and
Kunar provinces last night,” Farahi said. "This will definitely be
retaliated against in due time. The decisions of the regime are not made
based on emotions, but rather serious measures are taken at the right
time.”
Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Taliban
government, said the Pakistani forces targeted a home in Paktia's
Chamkani district, killing an elderly man and a child, while other
family members were injured. When residents gathered to rescue people,
the area was struck again, killing 28 villagers and wounding 158, he
said.
Six people, mostly women and children, were killed in a village in Giyan
district, Paktika province, when another home was struck, he said. A
civilian home in Kunar province was also hit, causing no casualties but
killing some 30 livestock.
Tarar, the Pakistani information minister, shared three videos on X that
he said showed projectiles striking sprawling camps and safe havens of
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khwarij in Afghanistan’s Paktia, Paktika
and Kunar provinces. Tarar said the overnight strikes killed
“terrorists” and destroyed weapons and ammunition stockpiles.
Tarar said Pakistan’s relentless counter-terrorism campaign “will
continue at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and
supported terrorism from the country.”
Pakistan uses the phrase “Khawarij” to refer to Indian-backed Pakistani
Taliban and other militants. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is a breakaway faction of
the Pakistani Taliban.
India however, strongly denied any involvement, with Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal calling the statements “baseless
allegations.” Pakistan should “look inwards, take credible action
against the terror infrastructure on its territory,” he said.
[to top of second column]
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Residents walk through the rubble after what Taliban officials said
were Pakistani airstrikes a day earlier that killed civilians,
including children, in the village of Mandokhail, Chamkani district,
Paktia province, Afghanistan, Monday, June 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Saifullah
Zahir)
Militant attacks targeting Pakistan's police and security forces
have surged in recent years. Authorities have blamed the Pakistani
Taliban — known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP — and allied
militant groups for most of the violence. The Pakistani Taliban are
separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban that returned to
power in 2021.
The Pakistani security operation followed a militant attack
targeting the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Rangers in
Karachi that killed three soldiers. Security forces killed three
attackers and arrested another assailant, whom the military
identified as an Afghan national in wounded condition.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack.
Sunday’s cross-border strikes and ground operation came less than
three weeks after Pakistan’s military launched airstrikes on what it
said were militant hideouts in Afghanistan. They ended about a month
of relative calm following what Islamabad had described as an “open
war” between the neighboring countries, despite international
efforts to broker a lasting peace.
The escalation follows months of tit-for-tat military action.
Hundreds of people have been killed in cross-border fighting since
February, when Afghanistan launched retaliatory strikes after
Pakistan carried out airstrikes inside Afghan territory.
Multiple rounds of talks have failed to secure a lasting ceasefire.
China also hosted the two sides in April and Beijing later said
Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed not to escalate their conflict
and to explore a solution.
Pakistani officials said an uneasy calm prevailed along the
Pakistan‑Afghanistan border following the cross‑border operation,
with security forces remaining on high alert.
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Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writer Munir
Ahmed contributed from Islamabad.
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