Pakistan launches deadly air strikes along Afghanistan border, escalating regional tensions

Pakistan’s military announced a string of targeted air raids on the Afghan border, ending months of uneasy calm. The strikes were described as “calibrated” and aimed at terrorist hideouts near the shared frontier.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed that 26 insurgents were killed at four sites, while the Taliban‑led Afghan government said 13 people, many of them children, died across Kunar, Khost and Paktika provinces.

The move followed a brutal attack near Peshawar that killed six security officers and was blamed on cross‑border militants. Pakistan cited “recent terrorist incidents” as the trigger for the offensive.

Afghanistan has long denied that it allows militants to launch attacks from its territory, a claim the Taliban challenges. The clashes erupted after an offensive by Afghan forces on Pakistani military bases in late February, prompting a retaliatory bombing of key Afghan sites.

The ceasefire reached in October, intended to put an end to weeks of lethal fighting, is now under threat as both sides accuse the other of violating the truce.

The most devastating episode came in March when an air strike hit the Omid Drug Rehabilitation Hospital in Kabul, killing at least 269 people, the deadliest single attack in the region’s recent history.