Pakistan carried out precision aerial and drone strikes targeting ten distinct locations across Afghanistan early on Thursday morning. The military operation followed accusations by Islamabad that drone attacks were launched into Pakistani territory from across the border a day prior.

Pakistani Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed the developments through a social media post, stating that the action was taken in exercise of the nation's sovereign right to self-defence.

According to official statements, the targeted sites were specifically chosen as they were allegedly being used by hostile elements for launching and storing offensive drones. Minister Tarar emphasised that the operational response was strictly limited to identified military objectives directly linked to the attempted cross-border incursions.

He characterised the strikes as deliberate, precise, calibrated, and proportionate measures intended to neutralize active threats while minimizing unintended damage.

The latest aerial action marks a sharp escalation in ongoing cross-border hostilities between the two neighbouring nations. Just days before these strikes, Pakistani fighter jets conducted air raids in Afghanistan's Kunar and Paktika provinces, triggering severe opposition from Afghan authorities.

The Afghan government had vowed an appropriate response to those earlier attacks, raising regional tensions and concerns over a wider military confrontation.

Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid strongly condemned the previous bombardments, accusing the Pakistani military of targeting civilian inhabited zones. Describing the actions as repeated aggressive crimes, Mujahid stated that the strikes in Kunar resulted in the deaths of three local civilian residents, including a woman and two men, while four others suffered injuries. In Paktika province, aerial strikes damaged a residential home and a local shop without causing any reported casualties.

Mujahid further claimed that the Pakistani military establishment was attempting to divert public attention away from its own internal security failures by launching attacks on Afghan soil.

Reports from local media networks, including TOLOnews, corroborated that military jets had struck the Rakha and Torkandi areas of Barmal district in Paktika province alongside targets in Kunar. Despite these allegations, Pakistani officials maintained that their military operations strictly aimed at dismantling anti-state threat vectors.

The intense cross-border violence reflects a wider pattern of increasing military engagements along the frontier, which has exacted a heavy toll on non-combatants. A quarterly report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) covering the period between April and June documented 399 civilian casualties arising from cross-border armed clashes. This toll included 57 fatalities and 342 injuries, with a notable proportion of victims being women and children.

UNAMA attributed all the documented cross-border civilian casualties during that specific three-month window to actions carried out by Pakistani security forces. Provinces such as Paktya, Paktika, and Kunar consistently recorded the highest frequency of air raids and ground engagements.

Previous findings by the UN mission highlighted a single incident on June 28 where airstrikes across those three provinces caused at least 28 civilian deaths and left 49 individuals injured, drawing international scrutiny toward military operations conducted along the porous border.

Agencies