The death toll from the air strikes, which Kabul accused the Pakistani army of carrying out, rose to at least 47 in the eastern provinces of Khost and Kunar, officials said Sunday, after Pakistan urged Kabul to rein in militants launching attacks from inside Afghan territory.
Border tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan has risen since the Taliban seized power last year, with Islamabad accusing armed groups of carrying out frequent attacks from Afghan soil.
The Taliban denies harboring Pakistani fighters, but is disturbed by Islamabad’s construction of a wall on the 2,700-kilometer border between the two countries.
The latest missile attacks, which Afghan officials blamed on the Pakistani army, have heightened tensions.
“41 civilians, most of them women and children, were killed and 22 wounded in air strikes carried out by Pakistani forces near the Durand Line in Khost province,” Ahmed Osmani, director of culture and information in Khost Shabir, told AFP.
Najibullah, an official in the Ministry of Call, Guidance, Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, announced in Khost that the death toll from the strikes in the province amounted to 48 people.
“24 people from one family were killed,” he told AFP.
Jamshid, a tribal leader in Khost, confirmed that the death toll had exceeded 40.
“Yesterday, I went with several people to donate blood in order to treat the wounded who were injured in the strike that targeted Khost,” Jamshid said.
Another government official in Khost, who asked not to be identified, said he had seen “42 graves” of people killed in the bombing, adding that people were missing.
“The faces and bodies of some were charred and unrecognizable,” said Abdel-Wahab, a cleric from Khost who helped bury some of the victims.
On Saturday, officials announced the killing of five children and a woman in similar strikes in Kunar.
The country’s leading news television network, Tolo News, continued to broadcast scenes showing traces of blood and destruction as a result of the attack that targeted Khost.
So far, the Pakistani army has not issued any comment on the strikes, but the Pakistani Foreign Ministry on Sunday urged the Taliban authorities in Kabul to take “severe steps” against militants launching attacks against Pakistan from inside Afghan territory.
“Pakistan, once again, strongly condemns the terrorists who, while enjoying immunity from Afghan soil, operate in Pakistan to carry out activities in Pakistan,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
The ministry said that seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in North Waziristan on Thursday by “terrorists operating from Afghanistan”.
The border areas have long been a stronghold of insurgent groups such as the “Taliban Pakistan,” which launch attacks in Pakistan from Afghanistan.
“Unfortunately, elements of banned terrorist groups in the border area, including the Pakistani Taliban, continued to attack Pakistani border security posts, which resulted in the martyrdom of a number of Pakistani soldiers,” the ministry added.
Although there is no link between the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban, the two movements share the same belief.
Thousands of people cross the border between the two countries daily, including merchants or Afghans seeking treatment in Pakistan or to visit their relatives.
And last month, the Pakistani Taliban announced that it would start launching attacks on Pakistani security forces, starting from the first day of Ramadan.
The movement is seeking to pressure the Pakistani authorities to allow its fighters to return and absolve them of any punishment, after the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan ordered them to leave the country.
Meanwhile, the Taliban government issued a warning to Pakistan after the missile attack.
“It is a barbaric act and paves the way for enmity between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Saturday evening. “The Pakistani side must realize that the outbreak of war is not in the interest of any party.”
At the end of the week, Khost and other Afghan regions witnessed protests against the strikes.