Kabul: The United Nations (UN) has announced that at least 34 people were killed and 89 others injured in Pakistani military attacks in Afghanistan from February 26-March 1, local media reported on Tuesday.
While addressing a press briefing, UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that victims include children and women, and the figures remain preliminary. He stated that the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) continues to document incidents of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, Pajhwok Afghan News reported.
Dujarric said that restrictions on movement in border areas due to the active conflict have affected the work of humanitarian agencies and their partners to provide life-saving and other assistance in the most impacted areas, leaving Afghan refugees from Pakistan vulnerable. He warned of an increase in the return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan.
As fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan along the Durand Line entered consecutive days, Afghan forces have carried out retaliatory strikes on Pakistani military bases following recent air raids by the Pakistan Air Force inside Afghanistan.
The Afghan defence ministry said its forces targeted several key military locations near the 2,600-km Pakistan-Afghanistan border, including areas linked to Kabul, the Ali-Sher district in Khost, Jalalabad and Kandahar.
The escalation marks the latest surge in tensions along the Durand Line, where hostilities have intensified since Pakistan’s February 21-22 strikes on what it described as terror camps.
According to Afghan officials, their forces have captured multiple Pakistani military posts in Kandahar province, specifically in the Spin Boldak and Shorabak districts.
Three posts were reportedly seized in Spin Boldak, resulting in the deaths of three Pakistani soldiers and the capture of one serviceman. In addition, two Pakistani posts were taken over in the Ali-Sher district, Afghanistan-based TOLO News reported.
Over the past four days, both the Pakistani and Afghan militaries have engaged in cross-border targeting of each other’s positions.
On February 27, Afghanistan launched attacks on Pakistani Army posts and military centres along the Durand Line in response to Islamabad’s airstrikes in Nangarhar and Paktika on February 21.
Following Afghanistan’s attacks, Pakistan launched ‘Operation Ghazab lil-Haq’ (Righteous Fury) in response to what it described as “unprovoked firing” by the Afghan forces across multiple border sectors, Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn reported. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) carried out airstrikes targeting military installations in Kabul, Kandahar, and Paktia.
In recent months, tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have increased, with both sides accusing each other of cross-border attacks and harbouring militant groups.
(IANS)
