Kabul, Nov. 25: A Pakistani air strike in Afghanistan’s Khost province killed nine children on Monday night, Kabul has claimed. Spokesperson for the Taliban government in Afghanistan Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani forces bombed a house last night in the Mughalgai area of Gurbuz district in Khost. “Nine children and one woman was killed in the attack. Pakistani forces also carried out attacks in Kunar and Paktika provinces, injuring four civilians,” he said.

“Last night, around 12 o’clock, Pakistani invading forces carried out a bombing on the home of a local resident, Wilayat Khan son of Qazi Mir, in the Mughalgay area of Gerbaz district in Khost province, as a result of which 9 children (5 boys and 4 girls) and one woman were martyred, and his home was destroyed,” he posted on X.

The Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict has been officially going on for over a year now. Attacks from both sides have been going on and off since 2022, following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.

The latest series of border attacks, centred mostly around Kabul, Khost, Jalalabad, and Paktika, are an escalation of the conflict as multiple rounds of talks failed. Islamabad has accused Kabul of using the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan to launch terror attacks in Pakistan, a claim Afghanistan has denied.

While Afghanistan officially denies any attempt to overthrow the government, the TTP is believed to be trying to establish an emirate in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Neither the TTP nor the Taliban government recognise the Durand Line, the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

According to the Middle East Eye, the Afghan government may not be directly involved in TTP’s activities but it is not opposing them either for fear of a “mutiny” by the outfit. “The Taliban regime views the TTP not as terrorists but as ideological kin and historical battlefield allies,” Afghan journalist Shabbir Ahmed was quoted as saying.

Hundreds have been killed in the fighting so far.-Agencies