Pakistan confirmed Monday that its military had carried out “intelligence-based” aerial strikes inside Afghanistan to punish “terrorists” responsible for killing hundreds of civilians and security forces in cross-border raids.
A foreign ministry statement said the counterterrorism operation had targeted fugitive commanders allied with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, a globally designated terrorist organization operating out of Afghan sanctuaries.
Afghanistan’s Taliban government denounced the pre-dawn strikes in the southeastern Paktika and Khost border provinces, claiming they resulted in the deaths of eight civilians, mostly women and children. The identities of the slain people could not be verified from independent sources.
