Citing intelligence-backed intelligence from Islamabad, Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting confirmed cross-border air operations striking three border locations to dismantle "terrorist hubs," claiming twenty-eight militants and multiple suicide bombers were neutralized—an assertion flatly rejected as false by Taliban authorities.

Reporting civilian impacts, Taliban administration deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat stated that a 3 am (2230 GMT Sunday) strike leveled a residence in Patan village of Nurgal district, killing three family members and injuring four, while two unpopulated Paktika province sites sustained strikes without casualties.

AFP journalists documented the ruined Patan dwelling amid funeral gatherings following Islamabad's first fatal cross-border campaign since June, with wounded local farmer Mubin Khan recounting nighttime destruction claiming three relatives.

Condemning the cross-border strikes, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid warned that "Afghans will give it an appropriate response."

The escalation follows Friday's assault on a northern Pakistani police headquarters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa—bordering Afghanistan—which killed at least thirty-one people, including sixteen officers, and was claimed by local Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan-linked faction Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan.

Islamabad alleges Afghan harbor of anti-state militants, a charge Kabul denies.

Previous June strikes in Afghanistan left roughly thirty dead amid conflicting combatant-versus-civilian fatality reports.

Bilateral friction has persisted since 2021 Taliban accession, highlighted by earlier year bombings encompassing Kabul, including a March 16 strike on a drug treatment facility reported by the United Nations as killing at least 269 civilians.

Source: AFP