India strongly condemned Pakistan’s strikes on Afghanistan on Sunday, which resulted in civilian casualties. Pakistan said that its military operations resulted in the killing of at least 70 militants. Kabul rejected the claim, saying at least 18 people were killed in the strikes that hit “various civilian areas” in Nangarhar and Paktika provinces in eastern Afghanistan, according to the Associated Press.
“India strongly condemns Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan soil that resulted in civilian casualties, including women and children, during the holy month of Ramadan. It is another attempt by Pakistan to justify its internal failures,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in response to a media query.
The Foreign Ministry also reiterated India’s support for Afghanistan’s “sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.”
Pakistan claims strikes targeted militant hideouts; Kabul says homes and schools were hit
Islamabad claimed that it targeted what it described as hideouts for Pakistani militants. Meanwhile, the Afghan Defense Ministry said several homes and a school were bombed, describing the strikes as a violation of Afghan airspace and sovereignty.
Pakistani Deputy Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry, in an interview with Geo News, claimed that 70 militants were killed in the strikes, without providing any conclusive evidence.
In a post on the social media platform He also described Pakistan’s claim of killing 70 militants as “inaccurate”.
Regarding the victims, Mawlawi Fazlur Rahman Faiz, regional director of the Afghan Red Crescent Society in Nangarhar province, said that 18 people were killed and a number of others were injured.
Afghanistan summons the Pakistani envoy and warns of the consequences
After the strikes, the Afghan Foreign Ministry summoned Pakistan’s ambassador in Kabul to lodge a protest.
The ministry said in a statement: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan summoned the Pakistani ambassador in Kabul… in response to Pakistani military strikes on Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, which resulted in dozens of civilian casualties.”
The ministry “strongly condemned…the violation of Afghan airspace and the targeting of civilians, describing it as a blatant violation of Afghanistan’s territorial integrity and a provocative act.”
Pakistan has been informed that it will be responsible for any “negative consequences of such actions,” which will be taken to protect “the territorial integrity of Afghanistan,” according to the ministry’s statement.
After the strikes, villagers in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province cleared rubble, while mourners prepared for funerals of the dead, the Associated Press reported. A local resident told the Associated Press that the deceased “were poor people who had suffered a lot.”
A local tribal sheikh said: “The dead were neither Taliban nor military personnel nor members of the previous government.”
