Afghanistan's Taliban claims Pakistan airstrikes killed 36 civilians, Pakistan says it was 29 militants

Pakistani security forces carried out a ground operation along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border Sunday, followed by "calibrated strikes" against militant hideouts and safe havens, killing 29 fighters, officials said. In a post on X, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the operation was launched in response to multiple militant attacks across the country.

Afghanistan's Taliban regime said Monday, however, that 36 civilians, including women and children, were killed in the strikes and more than 150 other people were wounded across Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces.

Deputy Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat posted graphic photos on social media showing children, including an infant, purportedly wounded in the strikes receiving medical care. Chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told CBS News the figures provided by his deputy were correct, but CBS News could not independently verify the claims from the Pakistani or Afghan officials.

"In Mandukhel village, part of Chamanai district in Paktia province, Pakistani fighter jets bombed a civilian home, resulting in the martyrdom of an elderly sheikh and a child, and the injury of the rest of the family members. When villagers gathered to rescue the wounded, the aircraft targeted them with a second bombing, leading to the martyrdom of 28 civilians and the injury of 158 others," Fitrat said in his post on X.

An eyewitness in Mandukhel, Qayum Khan, told CBS News in a series of messages sent via social media that the house struck in the village belonged to Bismillah Badshah Khan, which was about 800 yards from his own home. He said that near midnight, Khan's house — which was one of the most substantial homes in the area — was engulfed in flames after being hit.

"We immediately ran toward the house to help, but then another bomb struck. Those who had reached the house first to rescue the injured were also caught in the Pakistan bombing," Khan said. "I stood there in shock for a few moments. When I regained my senses, we reached the house. It had been completely destroyed."  

"I could hear people shouting for help from beneath the collapsed rooms. Children were crying. This was not a house belonging to the TTP [Pakistani Taliban]. It was the home of a respected family. Most of the family members worked in the Middle East and had built this house through years of hard work and sacrifice," said Khan.

Afghanistan's Taliban-run Foreign Affairs Ministry, in a separate statement, said it had summoned Pakistan's charge d'affaires in Kabul to present him with a "strong and resolute" protest regarding the bombing and violation of Afghanistan's airspace.

The attack came a day after militants armed with guns and explosives targeted the regional headquarters of Pakistan's paramilitary Rangers in the southern port city of Karachi, killing three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested another assailant, whom the military identified as an Afghan national, in wounded condition.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the Karachi attack in a statement Saturday night.

Tarar said Pakistan's latest operation along the Afghan border targeted the hideouts and safe havens of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khwarij, a term Pakistan uses for the Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks targeting police and security forces in recent years. Authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and allied militant groups for most of the violence. The TTP is a separate militant group from the Afghan Taliban, although the two are allies. The Afghan Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

Tarar said the security forces first conducted an intelligence-based ground operation against a group of terrorists near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Bajaur, a district in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. "As a result of precise and skillful engagement, high value Khwarji Commander Khan Farosh" was killed along with three others.

He said that, acting on intelligence, precise targeting of terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khwarij was also carried out in the border region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier. Three targets in Afghanistan's Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces were destroyed during the precision strikes, killing 25 terrorists, he said.

Tarar said large quantities of weapons and ammunition stored at the targeted marakiz and hideouts were also destroyed.

"Pakistan has always strived for maintaining peace and stability in the region, but at the same time shall not compromise on the safety and security of our citizens, which remains our top priority," he said.

Pakistan since last year has carried out multiple strikes along the border and inside Afghanistan, targeting alleged hideouts of TTP and other militants. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan's Taliban government of harboring militants who carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the TTP. Kabul denies the charge.