Pakistan says it carried out a ground raid and cross-border strikes in Afghanistan after an attack on a Pakistan Rangers facility in Karachi killed three personnel. Taliban authorities in Afghanistan said the strikes hit homes and caused significant civilian casualties, while the U.N. mission in Afghanistan reported at least 28 civilians killed and 49 injured in the attacks.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said security forces conducted an intelligence-based ground operation near the Pakistan–Afghanistan border before launching what he described as strikes on militant hideouts and safe havens.
The operation followed an attack late Saturday on a regional headquarters of the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers in Karachi. Pakistan’s military said three Rangers personnel were killed and four others wounded. Police and witnesses said a militant rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the compound, triggering a gunbattle. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the assault.
Tarar said the targets included sites used by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and what Pakistani officials call “Fitna al-Khawarij,” a label Pakistan uses for the TTP. Pakistan said its security operation killed militants and that one of the attackers arrested in the Karachi case was identified by the military as an Afghan national.
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities rejected Pakistan’s account and accused Islamabad of striking residential areas. Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the attacks hit homes in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces, and alleged 36 people were killed and 163 wounded. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strikes as a “cowardly act of aggression.”
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it confirmed at least 28 civilians were killed and 49 injured in airstrikes in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar on the evening of Sunday, June 28, and said verification was ongoing.
The latest violence underscores strains that have repeatedly flared between Pakistan and Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in August 2021. Pakistan has blamed the TTP and allied groups for a rising number of attacks inside Pakistan, while Taliban officials have accused Pakistan of violating Afghan territory and harming civilians.
