Wednesday, December 25, 2024
ISLAMABAD (UrduPoint News international / Pakistan Point News - DW Urdu - December 25, 2024) Pakistani warplanes bombed four locations reported to be camps of the banned group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province on Tuesday night, claiming to have killed and injured several suspected terrorists.
The US news agency AP reported, citing four Pakistani security officials, that the airstrikes targeted several suspected locations inside Afghanistan, destroying a training center and killing several Taliban fighters.
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The AP said that Pakistani security officials provided this information on the condition that their names be kept confidential because they are not authorized to disclose such information.
The officials said that the attacks were carried out in a mountainous area of Paktika province bordering Pakistan. However, it is not clear how far the jets went inside Afghanistan and what the nature of the attacks was.
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TTP camps in Margha and Laman areas of Barmal district of Paktika were targeted, Dawn, citing its sources, reported. One of the camps was used by Sher Zaman alias Mukhlis Yar, Commander Abu Hamza, Commander Akhtar Mohammad and the head of the TTP’s media wing, Omar.
There has been no official statement from the Pakistani military about the attacks. However, this is the second airstrike on alleged Pakistani Taliban hideouts since March. In March, Pakistan had also confirmed that it had carried out attacks in border areas inside Afghanistan based on intelligence inputs.
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The Afghan Ministry of Defense confirmed reports of these attacks by Pakistani forces in a post on social media.
However, it says that many children and other civilians were among those killed and injured in the attacks.
Inayatullah Khawarizmi, the Afghan Defense Minister, wrote in a post on X, “The National Defense Ministry’s response to the brutal bombing of the Pakistani army in Paktika province: The Pakistani army bombed the Barmal district of Paktika province this evening. The bombing targeted civilians, most of whom were Waziristan refugees.”
Khwarazmi added that “the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers this barbaric act to be against all international norms, it is open aggression and strongly condemns it. The Pakistani side should know that such arbitrary actions are not a solution to any problem.”
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The Afghan Defense Ministry added that Afghanistan considers the defense of its territory an inalienable right and this “cowardly act will be responded to.”
Although official casualty figures were not provided. However, sources have said that at least 15 bodies have been recovered from the sites of these attacks so far, while the search operation is still ongoing and there is a fear of an increase in the death toll.
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Pakistan has carried out these attacks inside Afghanistan at a time when a Pakistani delegation led by Islamabad's special representative for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq, has met with the Taliban's interim interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, and Foreign Minister Amir Muttaqi in Kabul.
The purpose of the Pakistani delegation's visit to Kabul was to resume diplomatic talks between the two sides after a long hiatus of the past year.
In a post on social media X on Tuesday itself, Ambassador Sadiq said in this regard, "Today I met Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. We had extensive discussions with him. We agreed to further strengthen bilateral cooperation as well as work together for peace and development in the region."
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Ambassador Sadiq also had a separate meeting with Afghanistan's acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani on Monday, where the two sides agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields to improve relations between the two neighboring countries.
It should be noted that there is severe tension between the two countries due to attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, however, despite this, the two countries recently agreed to resume diplomatic talks.
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