Pakistan’s military said it carried out air strikes in Afghanistan on Sunday, targeting what it described as “camps and hideouts” of armed groups linked to recent deadly assaults, including a suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in Islamabad that killed dozens.
Afghan sources told Al Jazeera the strikes hit two border provinces, with a drone attack on a religious school in Paktika and additional strikes in Nangarhar. There was no immediate response from the Taliban government.
In a statement on X, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said the operations were “intelligence-based, selective” strikes against seven sites belonging to the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) and its affiliates, as well as an Islamic State faction. The ministry claimed “conclusive evidence” tied recent attacks in Islamabad, Bajaur, and Bannu to fighters operating under Afghanistan-based leadership.
The air raids followed two suicide bombings in Pakistan’s northwest: one on Sunday in Bannu that killed two soldiers, and another on Monday in Bajaur that left 11 soldiers and a child dead. Authorities said the Bajaur attacker was an Afghan national. Earlier this month, a mosque bombing in Islamabad killed at least 31 worshippers and wounded 170, an attack claimed by Islamic State.
Pakistan accused Kabul of failing to act against militants using Afghan territory, despite repeated requests. The ministry urged the international community to press the Taliban to honor commitments made in the 2020 Doha agreement to prevent cross-border attacks.
Violence has surged in Pakistan in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP and Baloch separatists. Relations with Afghanistan remain tense, marked by deadly border clashes last October and failed peace talks in Istanbul.
