Bombing in Paktika by Pakistan killed 46, says Taliban administration

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Afghanistan’s interim Taliban administration has claimed that at least 46 people have been killed in a bombing by Pakistani fighter jets in the eastern Paktika province.

Mullah Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the interim Taliban administration, said that Pakistani jets bombed four locations in Paktika’s Barmal district on Tuesday night, killing 46 people and injuring six, besides destroying houses, the state-run Bakhtar news agency reported.

Islamabad has yet to respond to the claims made by Kabul.

According to Kabul, this was Pakistan’s second airstrike inside Afghanistan.

Media reports quoting unnamed Pakistani security officials said the fighter jets targeted camps of the banned militant group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which claims responsibility for several bombings inside Pakistan.

Islamabad has long accused Kabul of failing to crack down on TTP militants, who have reportedly been operating against Pakistan from Afghan territory.

Kabul, however, denies the charge.

The TTP, emboldened and revived since the comeback of the Taliban in Afghanistan, has carried out deadly attacks on Pakistani security forces, mainly in border regions, in recent months.

Following the airstrikes, the interim Defense Ministry in Kabul said the Taliban administration “will not leave this cowardly act unanswered but rather considers the defense of its territory to be its inalienable right.”