Pakistan Airstrikes: ‘Locals rushed to rescue, then came second strike’: How Pakistan’s late-night strikes in Afghanistan unfolded

Aftermath of strikes carried out by Pakistan in Afghanistan’s Chamkani district (Image source: Reuters)

Pakistan’s security forces carried out ground operations and airstrikes along the Afghanistan border on Monday, killing 29, officials said. Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar announced the strikes on X, saying “three targets in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar were destroyed during precision strikes” targeting hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban and its affiliate Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.Kabul gave a sharply different account. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strikes as a “cowardly act of aggression,” and the Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, Hamdullah Fitrat, detailed the civilian toll in a post on social media on Monday, stating, “According to the reports available thus far, the attacks carried out last night resulted in the martyrdom of 36 civilians, including women and children, while 163 others sustained injuries. Three residential houses were completely destroyed.” Fitrat provided a location-by-location breakdown. In Mandokhail Village in Chamkani District, Paktia, Pakistani jets struck a civilian residence, killing one elderly man and one child. “Subsequently, when local residents gathered to conduct rescue operations, the area was bombed for a second time, resulting in the martyrdom of 28 villagers and injuries to 158 others,” he said. In Walust Village in Giyan District, Paktika, six people were killed, the majority women and children. A third strike in Barolo Village in Manogai District, Kunar, destroyed a house but caused no casualties.Pakistan has denied targeting civilians.

What triggered the operation

The strikes came less than 24 hours after fighters armed with guns and explosives stormed the regional headquarters of the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers in Karachi on Saturday night, killing three soldiers. Security forces killed three attackers and arrested a fourth, identified by the military as a wounded Afghan national. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility for the attack.Pakistan launched Operation Ghazab lil-Haq in February, saying it was aimed at eliminating crossborder militancy. But despite four months of airstrikes, ground operations and claims of territorial advances inside Afghanistan, militants have continued to strike deep inside Pakistan, including in Karachi.Monday’s operation was the second major Pakistani military action along the Afghan border this month. On June 10, Pakistani airstrikes hit eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban said 13 civilians were killed, 11 of them children. Pakistan said 26 TTP militants had died.On June 19, Afghanistan launched its own strikes inside Pakistan, targeting what Kabul described as ISIS-K camps and “hostile intelligence circles.”

The ground campaign

Operation Ghazab lil-Haq has involved sustained airstrikes, artillery exchanges, drone operations and ground incursions across eastern and southern Afghanistan since its launch on February 26. Pakistani officials say their forces have killed over 800 militants, destroyed more than 280 border outposts and struck over 80 locations across Afghanistan. Kabul disputes those claims, which have not been independently verified.The campaign has played out across three broad fronts.In the north, Pakistani troops have engaged Taliban forces in Nuristan and Kunar, with prolonged shelling closing roads to Kamdesh and Bargi Matal for nearly two months. The closures cut off around 100,000 residents from food and medical supplies, according to the UN.In the east, Pakistani forces have struck Taliban corps and brigade headquarters, ammunition depots and border positions in Nangarhar, Khost and Paktia. Satellite imagery reviewed by The New York Times and BBC News confirmed strikes on ammunition depots in Kabul and Kandahar. Pakistani aircraft also struck Bagram Airfield on March 1, destroying a hangar and two warehouses.In the south, the BBC reported in late March that Pakistan had fenced off around 32 square kilometres of Afghan territory in Paktika, with a fence line running more than 12 kilometres inside the border. Afghan officials denied any occupation. Pakistan said the positions were tactical.The Taliban launched its own retaliatory military operation on February 26, directed by defence minister Mullah Yaqoob, targeting Pakistani border positions across six provinces. It has since carried out regular cross-border drone attacks on Pakistani garrison cities, including Islamabad, Kohat and Quetta. Most were intercepted, but the attacks were serious enough to prompt a nationwide Pakistani drone flight ban.

Ceasefire talks

Multiple ceasefire efforts have collapsed.A five-day Eid al-Fitr truce brokered by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey in March held briefly before fighting resumed. China hosted talks in Ürümqi in April, but the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister said the discussions ended without agreement and blamed Pakistani officials. An informal round in Termez, mediated by Uzbekistan, followed in early June.Pakistan’s three demands remain unchanged: Afghanistan must formally designate the TTP as a terrorist organisation, dismantle its infrastructure and provide verifiable proof of action. Kabul has refused.Pakistani officials say operations will continue until those conditions are met. Pakistan PM Shahbaz Sharif said in May that the operation would press on “with full resolve.”