The death toll from a reported Pakistani air strike in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province has risen to 19, reports TOLO News. The strike targeted Manay village in the Spera district, killing at least one woman and eight children, while several others were injured.
Sources told TOLOnews that many of the victims were young children aged between seven and ten years.
Taliban chief spokesperson and Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the strikes targeted the provinces of Khost, Kunar and Paktika. Mujahid earlier said that at least 13 civilians were killed in the attacks. He said the victims included 11 children, one woman, and one elderly man.
Writing on X, Mujahid said, “As a result of these attacks, 11 children, one woman, and one elderly man were killed." He also condemned the strikes, describing them as a “humanitarian crime and act of aggression".
A local official in Khost told AFP that an air strike hit a house in the Spera district, killing nine people and injuring 10 others. In neighbouring Paktika province, residents said another strike in Barmal district killed three civilians. According to one resident, the attack targeted a home and the victims were children.
Pakistan slammed over Afghan strikes at UNSCIndia launched a sharp attack on Pakistan at the United Nations Security Council, condemning Islamabad’s military strikes inside Afghanistan as a “massacre" and accusing it of violating international humanitarian law while causing widespread civilian casualties. Speaking during a UNSC briefing on the situation in Afghanistan, India’s Permanent Representative Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni said Pakistan’s actions amounted to killing civilians under the guise of counter-terrorism and called it a “perfect example of hypocrisy." “Dressing up a massacre as a military operation does not absolve the perpetrator," Parvathaneni said, asserting, “Killing, maiming and orphaning civilians is not counter-terrorism." |
