Afghanistan says cross-border attacks by Pakistan hit civilian areas and killed 3

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan accused Pakistan of carrying out cross-border attacks into its territory on Monday that hit civilian areas, killing at least three people and wounding 14, as tension between the two neighbors remain high despite recent peace talks.

Afghan deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said on X that the attacks also destroyed two schools, two mosques and a health center in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar.

Pakistan’s Information Ministry rejected the allegation in a post on X, saying that Fitrat’s accusations follow recent cross-border firing from Afghan territory into Pakistan. Those attacks, in Mrch and April, killed nine women and children in Bajaur, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

It said Bajaur attacks “exposed the Afghan regime’s reckless and shameful actions.” The ministry also argued that images circulated with the latest Afghan claim show damage “inconsistent with artillery impact,” citing intact roofs and localized breakage as indicators of possible staged destruction.

Pakistan and Afghanistan had been embroiled in months of deadly fighting that killed hundreds of people since late February, when Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan.

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants that carry out deadly attacks inside Pakistan, especially the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. The group is separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taliban, which has ruled Afghanistan since it seized power in the country in 2021 amid the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies the charge.

In early April, Afghan and Pakistani officials met for Chinese-mediated peace talks in western China. The two sides agreed not to escalate the conflict and “explore a comprehensive solution,” Beijing said at the time. But some cross-border clashes have continued, although at a lower intensity than before the talks.