Rabat — Pakistan carried out airstrikes along its border with Afghanistan late Saturday night, saying it targeted armed groups.
Afghan authorities said 18 civilians from the same family were killed when one house was destroyed. Several others were injured, including children.
Pakistan’s Information Ministry said the military struck seven sites linked to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), known as the Pakistani Taliban.
In a statement posted on X by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, the government said a group affiliated with the Islamic State was also targeted. The locations of the strikes were not made public.
Local police in the border area said the bombing started around midnight and hit three districts in a remote mountainous region.
“The house was destroyed. My father and my sons were there. They are all gone,” said Bezakat, a 35-year-old farmer, speaking to AFP. Neighbors rushed to help rescue survivors and recover bodies from the rubble.
Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said it would give an “appropriate and calculated response,” raising fears of new fighting between the two countries.
Pakistan said the strikes followed several recent attacks on its soil, including a February 6 suicide bombing in a Shiite mosque in Islamabad that killed 40 people.
The attack was claimed by the Islamic State group. It was the deadliest attack in the capital since the 2008 bombing of the Marriott Hotel Islamabad, which killed 60 people.
Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan of allowing militants to operate from its territory. Afghan officials deny this.
Relations between the two neighbors have worsened since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
The most serious clashes in October left dozens dead. Since mid-October, the main land border crossing has largely remained closed, hurting trade and separating families who live on both sides.
A February 8 report by the UN mission in Afghanistan said 70 civilians were killed and 478 wounded in the first three months of 2025 in incidents blamed on Pakistani forces.
The report said civilian casualties from cross-border clashes between October and December 2025 were higher than in any full year since 2011.