‘Friendly wars’: Pak airstrike kills 8 Afghans; Taliban condemns, vows revenge

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: A week after a new government was installed in Islamabad, at least eight Afghans were killed inside Afghanistan early on Monday in airstrikes carried out by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) targeting multiple suspected hideouts of the Tehreek-e-Taliban-Pakistan (TTP), the media reported.

According to early reports, eight people, including a wanted terrorist commander, were killed on Monday in airstrikes carried out by Pakistan against “militants.”

Amid calls for revenge, the Taliban, which described the attack as “reckless”, said the dead included women and children.
The Pakistani army, in a statement, said that on the night of March 17-18, the security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in North Waziristan District on the reported presence of terrorists.

“During the conduct of the operation, after intense fire exchange, eight terrorists including HVT (high-value target) terrorist commander Sehra @Janan, were sent to hell,” the statement said.

“He was involved in orchestrating the terrorist attack on Security Forces’ Post in Mir Ali on March 16 and was highly wanted by the law enforcement agencies.”

It said that sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area as the security forces are determined to wipe out terrorism from the country.

Afghan interim government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the attacks, denouncing them as violations of Afghan territory and warning Pakistan to desist from blaming Afghanistan for its internal issues.

At “around 3 am, Pakistani aircraft bombarded civilian homes” in Khost and Paktika provinces near the border with Pakistan,” said Zabihullah, claiming that all eight people killed were women and children.

He said that Pakistani planes had bombed the Laman area in Paktika’s Barmal district.

Alleging that “houses of common people were targeted”, he said three women and three children were killed in Paktika and a house collapsed while two women were killed in Khost, where a house was destroyed as well.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan strongly condemns the attacks and describes these as non-serious actions and violation of Afghanistani territory,” Mujahid said.

“Such acts can lead to dire consequences which will not be in control of Pakistan,” he warned.

The airstrikes come a day after President Asif Ali Zardari vowed retaliation following the killing of seven Pakistani soldiers, including two officers, in a terrorist attack in North Waziristan.

Offering the funeral prayers of the two officers, Zardari on Sunday said the blood of the martyrs would not go in vain and the country would avenge the deaths. He said Pakistan would not hesitate to strike back if attacked by anyone at borders or inside its territory.

The Hafiz Gul Bahadar group had claimed responsibility for the recent deadly attack. Security officials say that fighters of the Gul Bahadar group operate from the Afghan side of the border, mostly from Khost.

The Paktika province is located near Pakistan’s South Waziristan District while Khost is situated near North Waziristan.

Pakistan’s Special Representative to Afghanistan, Ambassador Asif Durrani, claimed that 5,000 to 6,000 militants from the TTP had sought refuge in Afghanistan, with the number rising to 70,000 including their families.

But Afghanistan refuted Durrani’s claims, maintaining that its soil was not used against other nations.

Durrani emphasized Pakistan’s demand for the Afghan government to make the TTP surrender and disarm, citing the group’s significant threat to Pakistan’s security.

Despite hopes that the Afghan Taliban’s return to power in 2022 would lead to the expulsion of TTP operatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan criticized Kabul for failing to take action against the group. Cross-border clashes were also reported in Kurram District’s Parachinar, prompting residents on both sides of the border to evacuate the area.

The TTP, which has ideological linkages with the Afghan Taliban and is also known as the Pakistan Taliban, was set up as an umbrella group of several militant outfits in 2007. The TTP’s main aim is to impose its strict brand of Islam across Pakistan.
Islamabad had hoped that the Afghan Taliban after returning to power in Kabul in 2022 would stop the use of their soil against Pakistan by expelling the TTP operatives but refused to rein it.

Meanwhile, cross-border clashes were also reported at Kurram District’s Parachinar.